Issues
by Xmarksthespot
Summary: Discontinued
1. Encounter

**Tis my first Naruto fic. Please review Teheee**

**Disclaimer: I don't own **

**Chapter one: Encounter

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She stumbled while walking. Her sight was hazy and she wasn't sure whether the black spot over the horizon was a village or an illusion. Her chakra was dissipating rapidly and her right arm held onto the wound on her abdomen. Her hair, just above her shoulders, was a mess, sticking in every direction and covering her face that (also) was covered in blood and scratches from her battle.

Maybe it was a bad idea to accept an A-ranked assassination mission. Of course, she was smart enough. Her teacher–Tsunade, the fifth hokage of her village – had told her that she should be able to find the ninja within two weeks. She found him within _five_ days. But the man was tough to kill. He started off fleeing from the pink-haired girl, leading her to a distance. Although she's now in an unfamiliar distance from her home, she was capable of killing the man with the remaining chakra.

Unfortunately, Sakura gained many injuries. She needed to find a shady place to rest for the sun there was like the sun in the sand village. It was_ killing_ her. The rays of the sun made her more fatigue but she continued to walk towards that dark spot she had just witnessed.

_'Just a bit longer,'_ she thought as the black dot grew larger and larger. She had just a bit of chakra left. With it, while standing there in the never-ending fields of who knows where, she stopped the bleeding of her abdomen.

Planning everything out, she knew that once she reached the village, she could get some help with her injuries. She had barely enough chakra to heal them all at once and the injury on her belly-- despite the fact that it's no longer bleeding-- was severe.

But when she got there, it wasn't a village. Just a worn down building with its front wall blown down, revealing the rooms inside.

Still, Sakura figured she could rest there; just a bit. It was shady and within a few hours, she would have enough chakra to heal herself and therefore, have a good night's sleep allowing her to find her way back home tomorrow. Sakura planned _everything_ out.

As she took a few steps closer, she could feel her eyelids drooping; Sakura was very tired. She soon heard a noise within the building. She could feel someone's powerful presence, having sense their large amount of chakra.

"Who's there?" she yelled out, getting ready into a fighting position. The sun rays distracted her, causing her to squint, but she looked at the man who stepped out of the building. Her eyes widened but she remained in her fighting position.

"_You_," she spat the word out and tried her best to remain still, but she knew that at her current condition, she was weak and could feel her legs were trembling.

He on the other hand, stood there, staring at her. He wore a lose white shirt that showed his chest, but didn't have the purple rope around his waist like their last encounter a few years ago. After a few moments, he put his hand behind his back and drew out his katana; the blade sparkled in the sunlight.

She clenched her fists and he took a step forward. With a blink of an eye he was right in front of her.

Before he managed to attack though, she got out of the way. She panted heavily. Barely three minutes had past yet she was worn out. She was going to die and she knew it, but she was determined and _will_ fight to the end.

"Hn," he grunted, amazed that she was able to dodge the blade. He eyed her movements carefully, but before he could attack again, she had muttered the words: "Sasuke...kun.." and lost consciousness.

Her wound had opened again and she had lots a tremendous amount of blood just by dodging his attacks. There was even a trail of the crimson blood along the dead grassy fields visible.

He stood there, looking at the motionless body. He could easily kill her now. One less annoying thing in the world. Or just leave her there to die. Taking a few steps forward, the seventeen year old criminal glanced at his former team-mate.

* * *

Slightly opening her eyes, she could hear the sounds of the flames flickering and crickets chirping. Funny, she was sure that this place was pretty much dead, why were there crickets? Soon enough, Sakura wondered how she got there in the first place. Sakura shifted her eyes which wandered around the familiar room; she was inside the abandoned building. Sakura slowly got up and moaned at her pain. Holding onto the wound, she noticed that her shirt had been slightly lifted up – she blushed at that – and the wound was neatly bandaged. In fact, all her cuts were treated.

'_Who would...'_ Her eyes quickly widened and Sakura's head shot up. The adolescent boy sat there staring back at her.

"Sasuke...Y-you....._bastard_!" With the chakra that she had just gained back from her rest, she summoned it all through her fists and punched the ground, sending rocks flying everywhere. The flames immediately died and the beams supporting the building shook– some fell, but the building didn't collapse.

Sasuke merely jumped out of the way silently, shocked by her immense strength.

"Do you want to die that badly?" he yelled out.

She knew what he meant. If she had used up anymore chakra, the building would've came to the ground, killing her weak self and allowing him to easily get away.

He then tossed her a kunai. "Knock yourself out," he suggested coldly.

She stared at him. _'No, I don't want to commit suicide. It's just that every time I see you, it's an automatic reflex!'_ she muttered. "Hmph," She turned away from him. "...Did you treat these wounds, Sasuke?"

No reply.

"Thanks..." But when she turned back to him, he was already gone. _'Dammit, he's gone already? I lost my chance to bring him back! _She sighed, _Oh well, its not like he'll come back anyway.'_ True, it was unlike her to give up easily but over the years, as much as she and her team– Naruto and sensei: Kakashi – wanted, she had learned that no matter how much they begged or beat the shit out of Sasuke Uchiha, he would never be convinced. It was his own choice whether he wanted to or not. Besides, if they forced him back home, he'd probably be faced with death. And even if he wasn't, Sakura's realized over the years that if she truly loved him, she should let him be happy and bringing Sasuke home would make him unhappy.

As it got dark, Sakura observed the building. It was dusty, spider webs everywhere. The blanket she was laying on was the only thing that was clean. She looked over to the side near the pile of rocks that she'd created earlier. It was a bag.

_'Has Sasuke been staying here?'_ she wondered and got up. It was hard for her to walk so she crawled over to the bag. Reaching her hand out, she was about to grab for the bag when she heard a footstep. She turned over and saw the black haired man with a pouch in his hand.

He glared at her. His glaring eyes told her to keep away from his belongings. She did as she was told. Sasuke then tossed the pouch over to her and she opened it.

In there were some food.

* * *

The two sat quietly, eating and Sakura would often glance over to him. _'He's..changed..._again_.'_ She remembered how he drastically changed since he left for Orochimaru, but now, with him in the same room as her, Sakura felt as if he'd changed again.

That's when it hit her. Tsunade had said that there had been reports that Uchiha Itachi was presumed dead. _'I guess this is why he saved my life instead of ending it. He even offered me food. He's finished his quest. He's...getting softer. Maybe I should...just..ask-'_

"Don't think about asking me to go home with you." It was as if he read her mind.

She chewed on her food then looked around for something to drink. "Say...Sasuke...Do you have anything to —

She saw him take the last gulp from his bottle. "No."

_'Dammit, there's no way he's gotten softer!'_

She then got up and looked around the building, wondering if there was any access to water in the place. Glancing over the dusty shelves, she noticed that there were many bottles of alcohol _'I guess this will do. Only if I don't drink **too** much,'_ she told herself, remembering back to the time when she and her friends went out for drinks at a local bar.

"I'm thirsty. Get me one too," she heard Sasuke demand. Sakura rolled her eyes but didn't say anything. She grabbed a couple bottles and walked back. Sitting down, she handed the man the bottle and opened hers, washing her throat with the liquid as he did the same with his bottle. The feel of the liquid soaring down her dry throat felt like heaven! Not only that, but it tasted great. She was–of course– underaged, but she had gone drinking with Tsunade plenty of times for celebrations back in Konoha.

It was silent after that and Sakura got up to get another bottle. It wasn't her fault. She knew it was bad but it wasn't as if she was going to get drunk easily. She was a great drinker and her body demanded for more; she wanted it. Each time she got up to get a few additional bottles, she'd pass another one to the Uchiha who'd gladly accept it.

He had also enjoyed the taste. He found it strange though was that he was enjoying the taste of the liquid in the same room as someone else and that someone else happened to be his former teammate. The annoying girl who was once obsessed with him! Though, she wasn't as annoying now.

"So why didn't you kill me?"

He heard her speak up, breaking the silence. Great, she'd gone back to being annoying. In fact, Sasuke had thought she was annoying each time she talked to him mainly because each time she talked to him, she'd expect him to reply back.

"Hn," he didn't say much after that, watching her move her wrist in a rotational spin, observing the liquid spinning inside the clear glass.

"So why didn't you kill me?" she repeated. She wasn't going to take a grunt for an answer and was planning to repeat the question until she was either knocked out from him-- or the alcohol-- or until he answered. She waited.

"Did you want me to?" He finally spoke.

"No but you could've left me there instead of wasting your time bandaging my wounds." She brushed her hair to the side as she grabbed yet another bottle.

"So what if I didn't feel like letting you die?" The honest truth was that he still had feelings for the girl. Not the feelings that a boy feels for a girl when they hit puberty or vise versa, but the feelings of friendship. She was a teammate of his once and the memory of the bond between teammates seemed to have come back every now and then for him, preventing him from doing anything drastic.

"...Thanks..I guess.." she mumbled and blushed a bit though it wasn't noticeable since her face had been red ever since she consumed her third bottle.

This time, it was Sasuke who got up to get another bottle, but as he got up, he swayed from side to side, feeling dizzy. He cheeks were burning and had bits of rouge on them.

"H..hey...watch out!"

He wasn't going to fall but something in Sakura's mind triggered, showing that Sasuke was going to fall.

She stood up, holding onto his arm. He didn't say anything but she followed and supported him to the shelves where there were barely any left.

Sakura placed her hand on the shelf for support as Sasuke grabbed the last bottle, but the weak ledge tipped over and Sakura falling with it, landing on top of the boy. The sounds of the liquor glass bottle smashing could be heard as Sakura looked at him.

He stared at her back and his neck moved upwards; their nose just less than an inch apart. Sasuke's recent movement caused Sakura to lean in as well and their lips crushed against each other.

For the rest of the night, the crickets' chirps weren't the _only_ sounds heard.

* * *

When he woke up, his eyes immediately widened.

She was sleeping peacefully..._Next_ to him- - with nothing on but his shirt covering her.

What did he do last night that got them into this situation? Oh right, Sakura offered him drinks and he accepted each time. His head hurt a lot. He could barely remember anything. That was when Sasuke heard a moan and turned over to the girl.

Soon after Sasuke's realization, Sakura slowly opened her eyes and quickly widened them too. She screamed. Very loud. In his ear. Holding onto what seemed to be his shirt against her naked body, she looked away.

"We...didn't...we..didn't..we..." she kept repeating over and over.

"We did," he told her bluntly. Sighing, he got up, looking miserable with his hair in a mess. They each turned away from each other and Sakura handed him back his shirt.

He grabbed it without turning his face and they went to search for their remaining clothes. "Think of it as if nothing happened," he said, still looking away.

She put on her shirt and walked over to the broken shelf and spotted her bra; ripped up and tattered.

"You must've been either really drunk or pretty desperate," she said, holding up the bra up to his face and he blushed.

* * *

He picked up his bag and turned right and pointed. "Just keep going straight from here and you'll hit the road that leads to Konoha. Turn right when you do." He then turned the opposite direction.

"...Thank you then. So..I guess this might be the last time I get to see you," she said, not sounding a bit tormented, but not content either.

"Aa..."

"...I'm not going to ask you to come home with me but...if I'm pregnant, expect me to find you and beat the crap out of you! I'll be bringing you home and **you** have to take care of **your** child."

Silence. He didn't say anything but then turned around to face her. "If you're pregnant, its probably not _my _child."

She growled. "Do you really think that I go off on missions and have sex with every guy I see?!?"

He started walking off and she did the same in the opposite direction, not knowing that within a year, Sasuke would be back home.

* * *

**I'm probably not going to update this. Its just been bothering me for a long time so I had to write this chapter but I'm too lazy to finish it. Unlesss...If I get lots of reviews for this...I might...maybe...I'll put up a second chapter. So if you want a second chapter, GREAT, review. If not...STILL GREAT...as long as you review though. **

**Pressy the button...write a review...make me happy...I might update!**


	2. No More Goals

**Aweee, you people are so nice! I swear, after the first hour that I published this, a bunch of reviews came popping up. And I guess I left a bunch of you confused so ehh...this chapter might be as confusing though. Just review like you did the last chapter and MAYBE I will update again–if you really want me too. **

**Oh and to explain why I called this story "Issues" is because there are a lot of issues in the world. Issues with friends, family issues, people with issues xD and other stuff so technically, this story will have a bunch of –how Shika would say, troublesome events. **

**Oh and I'll also be adding other couples to this story and sometimes they'll have their own chapter. This would include Naruto and Hinata, Neji and Tenten and Ino, Shikamaru and Temari since I really can't pick one of them to be with Shika.**

**Disclaimer: If I owned this, it would NOT be in a Shounen magazine but a _Shojo_ magazine.**

**Chapter 2. No More Goals

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After about a week's worth of traveling, Sakura's had healed her wounds before she had arrived to her village. When she did though, Sakura met up with two jounins who led her to the Hokage. There, she was placed in the hospital (despite being a skilled medic herself) for scans and checkups. It wasn't for another four days before they released her from the hospital and sent her to the Hokage.

The woman immediately asked her about her mission _before_ glancing at her, but before Sakura answered, planning to leave out the part with Sasuke – knowing that if the Hokage knew his location was currently near Konoha, she would send ninjas – likely to be ANBU – to hunt the missing nin down and drag him back here, dead or alive. Tsunade turned around, her hazel colored eyes widened.

"Sakura..." she said quietly, observing the bubble gum haired girl look at her with a question in her emerald eyes. "...come here..." Her voice was close to shaking while she stared at her student.

Sakura approached her, confused as to why Tsunade had called her up towards the desk. She watched as her teacher got up and off her chair and walked closer towards her.

'_Why would Tsunade want me to come towards her...'_ She instantly froze and lifted her right hand over her belly. Immediately, she could feel a presence that wasn't her own.

"Who did this to you?" Tsunade, being the expert that she was, instantly knew Sakura was pregnant just by looking at her. The girl was only seventeen and the woman looked at her as if she were her own daughter.

Sakura's lips began to tremble, fearing for what might happen. "I..." The eyes that had not leaked out tears for years began to water. "I..." It all seemed like a big joke that morning. Remembering how she told him that if she were pregnant, he'd have to come back and help her raise the child. Just a joke, but now, she wondered if she had jinxed things by saying that.

"Sakura, I'm not going to yell," Tsunade said calmly. "Just tell me.."

"It was..." Her heart pounded against her chest. Sakura started to panic as she did not want this. Her life would quickly fall downhill. She fell onto her knees with her hands covering her wet face as her teacher ran up to her, holding her arms around her pupil while Sakura wept.

* * *

_8 and a half months later_

"DAMMIT," Sakura cursed as she laid on the hospital bed. She could feel tears leaking out of her eyes, but she was strong.

"Come on Sakura, just one more push," Tsunade told her.

Sakura wished that Naruto and Ino were here to support her through her labor. Unfortunately, this baby wanted to come out a week earlier than he –or she, (Sakura wanted it to be a surprise although Naruto wanted to find out the sex of the baby. Sakura just didn't allow him to know, since she knew he couldn't keep a secret) was awaited to come. The past few weeks had been busy with missions and Naruto and Ino were both on one. Those two had helped her through her times, both when she was and wasn't pregnant. Also, Hinata and Tenten were out on missions along with Shikamaru, Neji and Lee. Okay, so everybody was on a mission and wouldn't be back for another week when the baby was _supposed_ to come.

"Lady Tsunade!" Shizune slammed the door open.

"What? Can't you see I'm busy here!" Sakura was panting heavily and noticed that Tsunade didn't even glance back at the door.

"But... Uchiha Sasuke!...He's back in the Leaf Village!" Both teacher and student's eyes widened.

"Just send some ANBU to watch him while I do this first!" She was truly a busy person. No one but Tsunade and Shizune knew about the father of Sakura's baby since she was the only one Sakura trusted the information to. After Sakura had stopped crying those eight and a half months ago in the Hokage's office, she told her sensei what had happened and begged her to not send ninjas to hunt him for it would be her child's father. Tsunade wasn't mad at her, but more disappointed as Sakura was too.

Naruto, though, panicked. Especially since Sakura – one of his closest friends that he'd risk his life for every moment they were alive–refused to tell him who had gotten her pregnant, but supported her all the way. He even protested against having a mission a week before her due date.

"NO" All of them eyed Sakura.

"Get...Him...Get Sasuke," she almost growled as she spoke. "To...Come _here_."

* * *

She had gotten prettier each time he'd see her. Not that he'd study her appearance. She had also gotten colder.

"_You're becoming like him!" she yelled out._

"_Who?" There was no emotion in his voice. It was like a soulless person–or rather, robot– was speaking out those words. _

"_Itachi."_

Those were the words she had spat at him a couple years ago when he was still with Orochimaru. Though he had finally realized that she only spoke the truth – in a harsh tone of voice. And now, he wasn't at all content at his choice back then, though it was probably his best choice seeing as if he had stayed, probably nothing would have changed, including his strength.

He tried to say something now that he was in the Hokage's office, surrounded by ANBU members, but what was there to say? For one, he was a criminal. Anything he'd say would be thought as a fib. Another thing, he did not like to talk. Over the past four years, he has probably said three or four words per week, if not, less (he considered his grunts to be words).

His goals for his life began at being exactly like his older brother, Itachi, living the good life and loved by everyone – especially his father who felt very proud of him– but it soon became a goal to kill him with every ounce of strength that Sasuke had. Now that the goal was _accomplished_, what was there to do? For almost a year, he wandered around the planet searching for a new reason to live on and it seemed that he went around in a full circle, now back at where he started. Another reason he was here was that he couldn't stop thinking about his encounter with Sakura all those months ago. Although she was angry with him at first and even tried to kill him with her low amount of chakra and injured body, she smiled and talked–annoyingly, very annoying when she talks. Even so, Sakura acted as if he was normal. As if everything was normal and nothing ever changed. She – from the looks of it – had accepted him after all the things he did. If it were someone else, they would give him a cold stare, decline his offer for food and probably ripped off the bandages he wrapped around their wound, which made him think that maybe if she had forgiven him– she of all people should _not_ forgive him, especially after all the things he did to her which he feels _slightly_ guilty for, but she had still forgiven him– maybe others would too. If not, its not like it really mattered as long as there was one person who did.

"Uchiha Sasuke."

He heard a voice call out for him who seemed to be the Hokage's apprentice – or so he remembered. She looked tired and exhausted, like she ran the whole way here. He didn't reply though, just stared at her with his blank eyes that didn't show any life in him as regular eyes do. As _her_ eyes do.

"Follow me," she quickly said and ran, leaving him chasing after her which eventually led him to a hospital. Nurses and doctors glared at him and whispered to one another. Shizune ran faster and faster with each second that past by though he easily caught up to her.

He didn't pay attention to where he was going in the hospital. Sasuke eyed the room he was standing in front of.

"Please enter the room...there's someone who wants to–

"UCHIHA, GET YOUR ASS IN HERE!"

He almost flinched at the scream for it was the one scream that belonged to someone he knew.

'_Why is she in here?' _

And he opened the door.

* * *

Sakura panted heavily. She had been in the room for hours and the baby had refused her invitation to come out into the world and relieve her of her pain.

As she looked at him, he stood there with his eyes staring back at her and the Hokage and seemed to be twitching.

'_What. The. Hell.'_

"Get over here and help Sakura!" The Hokage yelled out and Sasuke walked over. Slowly.

'_Help her...how?'_ he thought as he made his way.

Sakura started to yell and quickly grabbed onto Sasuke's shirt. Or, at least what she thought was his shirt, but was really his hair.

"You know...this really hurts!" He told her as she yanked onto his hair. Repeating what he had said in his mind, he realized what he said and looked up to receive a deadly glare.

"YOU...THINK..._THAT_...HURTS?!?" She panted while yelling at the person who had gotten her there in the first place and yanked onto his hair again – on purpose.

He concluded that pregnant Sakura was even more viscious than regular Sakura.

"Push, Sakura," the Hokage repeated again.

He didn't say anything and allowed her to grab onto his hair. He just stood there and waited. Maybe helping Sakura go through this will lighten his punishment. Even though he really didn't have anything left to do in life, he didn't want to die just like that. Maybe something would come along that wouldn't involve massacres and bloodshed. He didn't think that getting emotional and dying would be his best solution.

* * *

The baby's cries echoed the room and Tsunade left the three alone in the hospital room in a fatigue state. The three of course included an exhausted Sakura, Sasuke and their baby.

Sasuke didn't want to be there though. He'd rather be in the office right now, being screamed at and receiving his punishment. And he _really_ didn't want to talk to Sakura, knowing that she was probably mad at him for getting her pregnant. In his mind, he crossed out her name off the list of people who had forgiven him for what he did. It was just one mistake after another with him. He looked onto the ugly colored tile flooring of the room and thought of nothing until Sakura spoke up.

"So...what are we going to name this kid?"

* * *

**Again, I will NOT update unless you review xD reviews always make me feel better. They're like drugs. Teheee, oh and the only reason I'm updating this fast–trust me, if I were to continue this story, I won't ever update this fast– is because I have A LOT of homework to AVOID. That is the only time I will ever write. Oh and sorry if Sasuke was OOC. I really can't keep him in character and I refuse to make him some lifeless bastard who continues to hate everything in every emo way.**

**Sooo...review!**


	3. Confession

**Haha, maybe I will continue this story after all. Well actually I have a lot of homework right now so I'll be updating when my teachers give us a break and there's nothing to avoid by writing fanfics**

**But enough people like it so _yea_...Anyway, this chapter is going to be like a conversation chapter so Sasuke's gonna be like OOC and talking like HECK. Hope that's okay with yous.**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto it would be in a shojo magazine with little hearts in every corner.**

**Chapter 3. Confession.

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**

"_So...what are we going to name this kid?"_

He remained sitting on a nearby chair and didn't bother glancing up to look at the two on the hospital bed. "Is it a boy or girl?" he asked.

She immediately made a face at him though he didn't notice. Still cradling the baby in her arms, she sat up and asked, "You didn't check the gender of the baby? Why not?" Her voice was still soft from all the yelling and screaming she did just a few hours ago.

Sasuke finally looked up and fixed his eyes at Sakura, watching her glance back at the baby. He swore he saw a tear coming out of her eye. She smiled happily and lifted up one of her arms and touched the baby's cheek. She held the child towards her chest and cradled it slowly back and forth with serenity in, not only her beautiful – now watery – jade eyes, but her entire face.

"You were pulling onto my hair; I couldn't go look at the baby without wanting to lose my head," no emotion in his voice. Same as usual. She didn't look back at him and still smiled at the baby.

"It's a girl."

"Hn," he didn't have much to say.

"Did you not want a girl?" No reply. "...Do you want to see her?"

He thought for a moment. It wasn't going to hurt if he just gave a glance and it _would_ hurt Sakura if he refused. With a sigh, he got up from the chair. "Aa," He murmured as he walked over to the hospital bed. He only thought to scan at the baby's – probably pink and squishy – face, but she literally handed the girl to him. Sasuke had trouble holding the baby though. He had no clue how to hold her without dropping or making her uncomfortable.

Sakura gave out a small giggle and fixed Sasuke's arms so that he would cradle the sleeping baby correctly.

He looked at the sleeping infant whose face was neither pink or squishy.

At first, Sakura wasn't so sure if she should let Sasuke hold her, but wanting him to talk, the question just popped out of her mouth and surprisingly, he accepted. She watched Sasuke stumble to carry the girl, but with assistance, he learned quickly. His eyes would suddenly sparkle every once in a while during that moment as if there _was_ life in him. Sakura studied him and swore that the Uchiha gave a half-_smile_. It was a small curve at the end of his soft-looking lips that he made while brushing his fingers lightly on the baby's head – her hair resembled his in the dark color. All these times, he had never smiled and people claimed that it was because all Uchiha's _never_ smile - not that she believed them. Was it all because of a death of _one_ man that made him this way?

"Itachi..."

He instantly looked up at her when he heard the name. "You were consumed with rage and revenge was your only goal and answer...you left everybody who ever cared for you just to kill your brother...and now that he's dead," Sakura stopped to find the words, "now that he's dead...does that explain your sudden change in personality?"

Still holding his daughter, he stared at the rosette and didn't answer. He opened his mouth slightly but... didn't answer. Finally, something came out. "I'd like it if there weren't anybody near here and might be listening."

She stared at him and called out a name he was unfamiliar with. The door suddenly opened and an ANBU came in silently and remained silent without asking any questions. She stood up on the bed and her legs came off the edge, so she was closer to Sasuke.

"I know the Hokage sent you here to watch the door, but I'd like it if you'd leave. Don't worry, I'm sure that here wouldn't try to escape and wouldn't _dare_ hurt me. I'll get a nurse to call the Hokage when he's ready to leave."

The ninja stood there for a moment to think, then nodded.

The door closed and once Sakura was sure that no one was near to listen to the conversation, she looked back at Sasuke expecting an answer, but he still stood there thinking. Sakura sighed and Sasuke placed the baby into her bed.

"I.." he stopped. Sasuke's eyes searched all over the room, hoping there would be an answer written somewhere on the walls for him. "I...Itachi.." He instantly stopped. He didn't know what to say and wasn't even sure he wanted to tell her anything.

"...Sasuke...you don't have to tell me if it makes you this uncomfortable."

The onyx orbs wandered back and stared directly at her eyes. "I didn't kill Itachi. He's not dead."

She gasped and wondered what to say next. Well a question word would've been a good reply. What? Why? How? Any of those three would've worked, but when she opened her mouth to say something, all that came out was an: "uh..."

"During these past years...each time we'd ever run into each other – except for the last time – you, Naruto and Kakashi– would tell me that how I ran my life was not what I should be doing. And.." Again, he stopped, but Sakura – surprisingly – stayed quiet. "I ran into my brother about a year ago and fought him. We were equal in strength and he almost killed me, but I managed to bring him down. By this time, he was completely out of chakra and couldn't do anything. His body laid there though and he was unable to move. I'm pretty sure that a spy for the Akatsuki had witnessed this and left the area, assuming he was dead, which is how Konoha got the rumor. But I knew he was still alive and had the opportunity to strike him with my remaining strength and he knew that. I picked up my kunai and I slowly made my way to him, but as I got closer and closer..I remembered Naruto's words..._your_ words..and I.." He stopped again. Sasuke finally spoke up after a brief moment. "I couldn't kill him...But..I didn't tell you everything...there's more and I want to tell you."

'_He wants to tell me? Is he actually saying all these words or am I starting to hallucinate from hours of labor?'_

"I aimed my kunai at Itachi again and...I started to cry. I felt weak."

Sakura was surprised at this. Not only was Sasuke actually talking to her but he confessed what barely any man (especially Sasuke) would say. At that moment, she observed his actions. His teeth were close to clenching and were together at certain points. His hand was in a fist and trembled.

"I remembered life before my clan had died. How happy I was – how everybody was and I remembered all the memories with my brother." his voice got quieter and quieter. "And I couldn't do it...even Itachi didn't say anything as his body laid there. Both of us were shocked and I dropped the weapon and walked away. When I came back the next day, the body was gone." It was true. He was admitting the whole thing to her.

Instead, she was speechless but gently smiled and she remained on the bed but got up to her knees so their faces were alligned. With her arms, she wrapped them around Sasuke's neck and he didn't move.

"I'm happy...Itachi's a man who deserves to die but...Sasuke, you know you're not weak and I'm glad that you didn't kill him for your made the right choice,"

"Aa," was all he said

"Sasuke..."

"Hn?"

She quickly let her arms go of his neck. "You stink. When was the last time you showered?"

"Hmph!"

Sakura laughed.

* * *

"Sakura...Do you still love me?" It was a random question that Sasuke asked. Things had gotten quieter and Sakura had went back to laying against her pillows on the bed.

"I may be angry at you for leaving..some parts of me I admit even hate you but..once you fall in love, you can't fully be angry at them. You _can't_ hate someone. Its just like you and Itachi, but less intense...isn't it?"

"I didn't do--"

"You didn't do anything to deserve my love, I know," she said, pretty much reading his mind, "but its not like you can choose who you fall in love with. Your heart chooses for you and sometimes, you'll have no idea why your heart chose that person and why you developed feelings for them in the first place."

"Sasuke.." This time it was Sakura who broke the silence that seemed to come every so often. "Are you planning to stay in Konoha?" She had originally wanted to ask 'why are you here?', but figured Sasuke wouldn't answer that question. Besides, it didn't matter as long as he was here.

"Aa..." No explanation. Nothing. Just a grunt. Sakura figured it was a 'yes' and smiled.

* * *

Sasuke picked the baby up from the crib again. He actually enjoyed watching the sleeping infant while carrying her.

"Do you want to name her?" Sakura asked, changing the subject, but he shook his head.

"Hn," Great, it was as if he wasted his week's worth of breath and went back to using grunts again. Sakura preferred it when he talked though.

She sighed. "Okay...well Naruto wanted the baby to be named after him and he's helped me so much during these past months..I feel like I really owe it to him...but this baby is a girl so maybe.._Naruno_?"

"...No."

She giggled, glad that she received at least one word from him. "Well okay..how about something starting with 'S' like our names?"

"Hn." Great. On with the grunts again.

"How about..S-s..Sumi?" She repeated the name several times and smiled. "Sumi. Sumi Uchiha. What do you think?"

One of the many reasons he didn't want to be in the room at the moment. He really didn't care, but was content that she used his family name.

"Sasuke..." she whined and demanded for an answer.

"Sumi...Haruno Uchiha," he said as he arched his lips into a curve again and peacefully watched the happy girl smile back at him. Suddenly, he felt something in his arms move and gazed down.

"Oh look..she's opening her eyes," Sakura said with excitement in her voice and Sasuke lowered down so she could see, the baby still in his arms.

Sakura saw the dark green orbs slowly appear under the eyelids and looked back at the man carrying her. Again, she saw that peaceful face appear on Sasuke, but went back to watch her daughter stare back at her father. She watched as Sasuke placed his fingers on the girl's face gently and her tiny arms reached up to touch them. His onyx eyes widened and he brightened again with fascination. This time, the curve of this lip was somewhat bigger than the last. Sakura's thoughts were then interrupted by Sasuke.

"Here," he whispered, moving his arms towards her and Sakura gently carried the baby.

"Hello Sumi...Hi...I'm your mommy..." she spoke softly to the infant who's eyes wandered around the room wondering where she was. She moved the baby in her arms so the baby would face Sasuke. She then pointed her finger at him. "This is your daddy..." she smiled and looked at the Uchiha.

Sasuke had a tingling feeling in him that was strange yet warm when Sakura had told the infant that he was her 'daddy'. It hadn't really hit him until then but he turned around and blushed.

All of a sudden, there was a knock on the door and both of them looked up from the baby they were paying so much attention to.

"Its me." Another unfamiliar voice to Sasuke and he glanced back at Sakura to read her face.

She smiled and said, "Come in."

A tall nurse about Sasuke's height with dark chocolate brown hair in a bun walked in. She held a clipboard in her one hand and walked right over to Sakura -- with a quick glance and flirty smile at the Uchiha, of course.

"So how are we doing?" The nurse had finally snapped out of her imaginations and turned to Sakura.

"Fine, she just woke up."

"Thats great. I think its time to _feed_ her,"

Before Sasuke realized what was happening, Sakura slid her shirt off on one side to reveal, yes, something that Sasuke did not want to see. His body froze no matter how much he wanted to turn around. It was just a few seconds after that it finally reacted and _immediately_, Sasuke turned with a flustered face.

The nurse left and Sakura started to laugh out loud. "Awe, is poor Sasuke afraid of a bare breast? You know, if the other guys were here, they'd be fighting for a front row seat."

"And you'd let them look?!" Sasuke spat out -- still not facing the woman breast-feeding the baby.

"Pfft, of course not. Besides, their girlfriends and _wives_ would also be here. They wouldn't dare."

"They're married?" Okay, Sasuke had only been gone for...about 4 and a half years. He was 17, Sakura was 18. Some people of their "group" were around that excluding Gai's team who were about 19. But wasn't it still a bit early for marriage? Sasuke wasn't planning on reviving his clan until he was in his twenties, though that plan happened a few years earlier than expected.

"Mhm. Oh, come on Sasuke. This is the first time she's being fed...just one glance?"

Sasuke had _no_ idea why Sakura would want him to look at her breast so much. Well technically not exactly that, but Sumi being fed is pretty much looking at her chest.

She giggled again as he was convinced and _very slowly_ and much like a robot, turned around and _slightly_ moved his orbs to the side and glance at the infant with small shades of pink on his cheeks.

"See, its not so bad. Come on..don't you agree that she's cute when she's--

"Sure. Whatever."

* * *

It was getting dark and Sakura called for a nurse who then called the Hokage. Tsunade had sent over an ANBU who was supposed to watch and lead Sasuke back to her office. Before Sasuke turned around to leave the room though Sakura spoke up.

"Sasuke.." Sakura said. He looked up at her. "I'm...glad..."

"For what?" he asked.

"That you came to Konoha in time. That you were the first person Sumi laid eyes on...I originally wanted it to be Naruto, but...I think that it was better that it was you and not him..."

"Hn,"

"Oh and Sasuke?"

_'Can't she just say everything she wants to say in one sentence?' _Sasuke thought.

"Thank you..for opening up."

* * *

**Thats all. One question though. Has it ever been mentioned in the manga of Sakura's parents' names? I'm just wondering is all. And if they don't have names, care to give a few suggestions on some?**

**Oh and I'm sorry if this chapter was confusing.**

**For the next chapters, I'm going to be using the word 'baby' a lot because if I use the baby's name then its like a new character to you all so it'll be confusing. "Baby" or "infant" will be easier to understand.**


	4. Fake Smiles, Fake Laughter

**Thanks so much for all your reviews! --heart-- I'm so glad you like this story! This chappie's pretty much talking and more talking. It'll also include other characters too.**

**Remember to review at the end! Don't just avoid that button.**

**Disclaimer: If I owned it, it would be in a shojo magazine with hearts in every corner of the page**

**Chapter. 4. Fake Smiles, Fake Laughter**

After the ANBU had arrived for Sasuke, they merely took him into another hospital room where they x-rayed him and updated his medical files. They treated any mistreated injuries on him, but that was it. Since Tsunade was too busy to see him, they allowed him to stay in that one hospital room accompanied by an ANBU for that week without letting him see daylight or visit Sakura again–not that he really wanted to. The last visit made him terrified of seeing her–especially when its time to feed the infant; Sasuke shuddered at that memory.

After about 5 days though, Tsunade finally had enough time and Sasuke arrived at the hokage's office The ANBU left with a signal from Tsunade who had bags under her eyes and messy hair, showing the sign of exhaustion from all her work which took the form of piles of paper on her brown desk.

Sasuke stood there silently waiting for the yell he knew he deserved– his punishment following that. His ebony, shaggy hair was also in a mess. He really had a _long_ week. The obsidian eyes only stared in one direction; towards the Hokage's stressed out face. Wondering when Tsunade was about to speak about his punishment, he opened his mouth, about to speak up but was interrupted by her.

"Uchiha Sasuke," she breathed out and yawned. "Before I go along with your punishment, there are a few things I need to tell you." she didn't wait to hear his reply before starting again. "First of all, I know about you and your child. Secondly, Sakura and I both have strong opinions on this and we believe that it is best you do not tell _anyone_ about you impregnating Sakura."

Sasuke's first reaction to this was that the only reason they didn't want to let everyone know that the baby was his. He is a traitor to the village and a child in Konohagure with his name would also bring shame to both her and Sakura. However, that was not the case.

Tsunade took a sip out of her sake and started to speak again. "With you as the _last_ Uchiha, the risks are high with your daughter to be captured or even killed by ninjas who may have a grudge against you and your family. I've spoken to the elders about this problem," Tsunade had seem to missed the part about her telling the elders of the village about him and Sakura before asking permission from either of them, "and both you and Sakura–along with some of the other ninjas–will have a training session every so often, teaching you how to protect young children during an attack. Do you accept?"

He merely nodded.

"Also, another thing. After Naruto and the others get back, you are not to fight him or your punishment will be even more severe. Luckily for you, Sakura has begged for your survival."

'_Begged?'_

"You will be helping her take care of your child while making sure no one suspects anything. Act as if you had no idea that Sakura was pregnant until you arrived here and act as if you're also curious about who the father of the child is. That baby girl is your responsibility and therefore, you will also be sharing the cost and I assume money won't be a problem either. In just a few moments, an ANBU will be coming in with an anklet. It's designed so that it'll track your location at _all_ times instead of us having a ninja following you all day and night. If it is taken off by force then an alarm will be signaled and I will not tell you how many ANBU and jounin ninjas will automatically hunt you down. You are not to go anywhere within a mile of Konoha's boarders and if you do, the alarm will go off." Tsunade took a moment to take another sip of her sake.

Sasuke's face remained still. All the things he's been hearing were pretty obvious and he'd suspect this sort of thing from the beginning. The problem was Naruto. Sasuke wasn't sure how the blond would react if he knew that Sasuke was back in the village. He had two guesses though. One was that the 'dobe' would scream with excitement and invite him off to a ramen stand or something like that. The other theory was that he'd shun him from his world and act as if Sasuke had never returned. And Sasuke knew that he would respect Naruto's reasoning.

Speaking of the ninja, the door was suddenly opened. Tsunade and Sasuke had first thought it was the ANBU with the anklet chain but instead it was a flash of yellow and bright cerulean. The young man had quickly ran into the room, almost breaking down the door.

He took a few small breaths while gazing back at his 'best friend'. For once, nothing came out of his mouth. Naruto wasn't sure what to say. The mixed emotions he had in him were all fighting for a chance to escape. But the first thing he did wasn't what Sasuke had thought of. He did not run up to his friend and acted as if he never left nor did he turn away and avoid him either. Instead, Naruto smiled and his arm came out. Seems like Naruto wasn't a problem after all.

"Welcome back," he said.

Sasuke just smirked and his hand grabbed onto Naruto's into a shake but didn't let go until Tsunade cleared her throat.

"Naruto, you aren't supposed to be back for another 2 days." Tsunade looked back at the opened door, making sure that no one was nearby and if the rest of Naruto's team was back but no one was there.

"Oh..heheh," the fox boy chuckled. "Well...we had heard a rumor that Sasuke-teme," Sasuke smirked at that ending part after his name. ",was back and well..Ino said that she and the rest of them could handle the mission and ..well I ran here,"

Tsunade clenched her fist and slammed the desk. "Do you know how stupid that was? Even if it was true, it was a rumor that you heard." Things went silent. "But...I guess now that you're here, I guess I'll have a few jobs for you. It'll take off some of the load for me." Tsunade sighed.

"Where's Sakura anyway?" Naruto wondered.

"She's leaving the hospital right now."

"What? Why? Did something happen?" Naruto started to panic as his sky blue eyes widened with fear.

Tsunade shook her head. "Nothing bad happened, Naruto. Sakura went into labor a week earlier than she was supposed to. Don't bother her now though. She's resting at home with her baby." Although Naruto was glad that she was safe, his face was in a disappointment when the Hokage told him he wasn't allowed to see her.

* * *

The anklet was placed around Sasuke's ankle. It seemed like an ordinary chain and no one could tell that there was a chip inside of it to locate the person's location. 

Sasuke stared at his foot.

"You can thank Shikamaru for that," Tsunade spoke. "He was the one who invented that device. Now," She turned her face towards the blond. "I want you to go get some groceries and bring it to Sakura's house. Make sure Sasuke follows you so the other villagers won't be alarmed when they catch sight of him. Also make sure to let them know that he's an _ex_- S-ranked criminal and is back on our side. I'll call Sakura to let her know you'll be at her house in a few hours. Remember Naruto, **hours**. I don't want you showing up at her doorstep within the next thirty minutes, you hear me? She needs her rest. I want you two back here in my office tomorrow at 8am and I'll discuss the rest of Sasuke's punishment. Until then, Sasuke, I want you to stay at Naruto's place for tonight. You two are dismissed."

"Hn," he had his hands in the pockets of his black track pants and followed the cheerful blond ninja out of the office.

* * *

Throughout the village, they were followed by gazes from **everybody** yet Sasuke's face remained emotionless as he followed Naruto who waved at some of the people. 

Sasuke noticed how tall his friend was–about the same height as him unlike when they were 12 and Naruto was a head and a half shorter.

"Your wrist..." He finally said looking at Naruto's arm.

Naruto looked back at him and chuckled. "Oh this," he stared at the cast around one of his arms. "Sakura broke it and refused to heal it even though I had a mission..She also convinced all the other medic nins to refuse to heal me," Sasuke made a face.

'_Is she that mean?'_ he thought.

"If you're wondering why, its because I ..." Naruto chuckled again. "I accidentally called her fat the other day...And teme, let me warn you..never call a pregnant woman with mood swings: 'fat'"

_'Is he that dumb?' _he thought.

Sasuke smirked. "Of course you shouldn't. Every _intelligent_ person should know that. I guess your brain hasn't really matured over the last few years." The two hadn't been together for a whole hour yet and the insults were already launched.

* * *

Sasuke would look at the villagers now and then and have no memory whatsoever on them. He wasn't so sure on whether it was because the village had changed **so** much during the 4 and a half years he was away or that it had **not** changed at all and he'd simply forgotten. Many people glared at him. Some didn't even bother looking up but the ones who did all made a disgusting face. 'Why is he here?' most of them thought.

As soon as Naruto noticed this, he ran over to each of them and started yelling at them.

_'How annoying.'_ True, Sasuke really hated the attention but didn't care what others thought of him. It was a waste of time and with Naruto jumping into every scene, his day was getting worse by the minute.

"Don't worry Sasuke, they'll forgive you sooner or later." Naruto spoke with his cheery voice.

"Hn," he rolled his eyes.

* * *

"We should get going to Sakura's now," Naruto said as the sun was starting to set. Both of the males were carrying bags of groceries though they should be carrying 2 bags _less_ if Naruto didn't buy so much instant ramen. The noodles were for himself and Sasuke of course since according to Naruto, Sakura became nauseous when she smelled the scent of ramen when she was pregnant and probably still is for another couple weeks. 

Naruto decided that since Sasuke was staying over his house tonight, they needed food though Sasuke knew that one of those cups would be for him and the rest would be for Naruto.

They went towards an intersection where Sasuke was about to turn and walk left but Naruto stopped him.

"Sakura doesn't live that way anymore," he said silently and gazed only onto the pavement, letting Sasuke read his face; something was wrong.

"Why?" He finally spoke up after about 5 minutes when they turned to the other direction. "That street is a lot closer to the hospital, isn't it?"

Naruto didn't say anything and just continued to walk.

"Hn,"

"Its because of that bastard.." The sound of Naruto's voice was harsh and filled with hatred. Sasuke knew that he would rarely talk like that unless they were on a mission and something terrible had happened.

"...?"

"Did Sakura tell you what had happened about 9 months ago and who had gotten her pregnant?" Naruto asked.

Remembering what Tsunade had told him, Sasuke shook his head: no.

"I didn't think so...Well she went on a solo assassination mission and met with some guy...she refuses to tell _anybody_ who he is so don't be shocked if she doesn't tell you anything. Well...she told me that they got drunk and he got her pregnant. But...because of him...because of Sakura's good heart...she refused to abort or give up the baby for adoption...and her parents–no, father...her father got **really** mad. He threatened to kick her out of the house if she was planning to keep the child. He told her that she should be ashamed of what she's done. They got into a really big fight and...he **disowned her**. Next time..when you're in the hospital teme...pay attention. None of the nurses call her _'Miss __**Haruno**__'_ anymore." Naruto's voice was shaky. "Its all that bastard's fault that Sakura had to live on her own. We all tried to support her...Even Ino and Tsunade even tried to talk to her father but he told them both that it was his family's business and not theirs'."

"Sakura.." Naruto started again. "She always said that it was because of him that she got to see the true side of her father...she never blamed him..not once. Each time I'd say something about him, she'd defend him... 'its not his fault', she'd say."

But it was. Sasuke knew that. Even though she did get to see the true side of her father, she would've been a lot happier if she hadn't gotten pregnant.

Naruto pointed a small apartment at the end of the street notifying Sasuke that, that was where she lived and the Uchiha looked behind him. It was a far distance from here to the hospital.

"Just try not to bring up the topic of her parents," the blond spoke silently to his best friend. "Wel..she doesn't really call them her parents anymore. Once, her father came to the hospital after a mission and she just acted as if he was a stranger. Even called him 'Mr. Haruno.'" Naruto sighed. "The worst part hasn't even come yet."

Sasuke's face quickly shot up to Naruto's who's eyes glanced down onto the ground again.

"Her parents decided to move into a nearby village. Its about an hour away from here. Most of her family lives there anyway but...she offered to help them with the packing but not only did they decline but...her uncles and cousins gave her dirty glares and her own father...her own father...he called Sakura a **whore**."

The onyx eyes widened. All of a sudden, it felt like someone was continuously stabbing him in the chest until he screamed out loud, crying from pain. Sasuke hated the feel of guilt. But he couldn't believe it. Her own father disowned her; called her a whore. All those smiles he saw on her in the hospital room...they were all hiding her sadness. In truth, Sasuke had to admit that he'd rather have his life–with his entire family slaughtered– than Sakura's who was abandoned by her own family. Even coming back to this village after all these years didn't feel as bad. Being tortured by Orochimaru wasn't as bad. And after all these months, Sasuke couldn't believe that Sakura was still smiling. She's a lot stronger than him. Emotionally stronger, that is.

They arrived at the house and Sakura opened the door with what Sasuke assumed to be her 'fake' smile.

At that moment, Sasuke knew that he had to do whatever to took–whether he liked it or not– to make it up to her.

* * *

Naruto offered to make dinner–shocking news to Sasuke that he knew how to cook. So Sakura and Sasuke sat in the living room. All was silent and the boy only glared at Sakura who held the baby silently. 

"I wonder who's genetics it is.." Sakura spoke up.

"Who's genetics what?" Sasuke asked back.

"She cries all day and night..."

"You're the cry baby." He spoke silently, making sure Naruto wouldn't hear anything.

"Are you sure? I remember this one time..Kakashi told me that he came over to the Uchiha house when you were a baby once..and he said that you would cry **non-stop**,"

"Hn, he lies."

Sakura slightly laughed. "Sure..."

* * *

After Naruto finished, they ate dinner only to hear Naruto talking and Sakura's short replies and Sasuke's grunts. 

They soon finished and Naruto cleaned up the table–another surprising fact to Sasuke that the boy knew how to clean.

Sasuke's nose twitched. "I smell...**tomatoes**," was all he said and he went off in a search, only to find a dozen baskets of cherry tomatoes in the one corner of the kitchen.

"Oh..you can have those if you want Sasuke-kun...I had a large craving for them but now they sicken me." Sasuke smirked. He _did_ come home at the right time. He grabbed one of the baskets and sat down on a sofa, taking bites one after the other.

"Sakura..can I hold her?" Naruto asked and Sakura nodded, handing Sumi to him.

Immediately, the baby noticed the change and started to cry.

"Awee...come on..don't cry!" Naruto begged but the cry grew even louder.

Sakura chuckled. "I have a theory..." Naruto and Sasuke looked up at her. "I think that Sumi here is scared of **perverts**,"

"WHAT? SAKURA, YOU KNOW I'M NOT A PERV!" Naruto yelled out causing the scream of the baby's to literally kill all ears. Sakura grabbed the baby from him and the noise went down.

"Its just a theory Naruto..besides, she cries every time Kakashi sensei or Jiraiya holds her. When Lee tried, she didn't even shed a tear. Even look, she probably won't react when Sasuke holds her,"

His face shot up when he heard his name. "What?"

"Hold her,"

Sasuke sighed and placed the basket of tomatoes down. Again, he had difficulty holding the child but eventually got the hang of it.

"See? She doesn't cry when he holds her! That must mean you are a perv!" Sakura teased her friend and he gave a growl.

"I'm not a perv!" He whined and Sakura laughed again.

The baby squirmed in Sasuke's arms and he felt content again.

* * *

"Thank you, Naruto, Sasuke." Sakura smiled as the two left her house. "Sasuke, come back tomorrow and you can have the rest of the tomatoes. Naruto, make sure you don't smell like ramen when I see you...I think I'm going to barf just staring at those grocery bag full of instant ramen." 

Sasuke only looked at her with sadden eyes. Throughout the whole day–since Naruto told him– the only thing he would think about was how she could still smile...still laugh.

"Ohh wait Naruto!" She called out before the two left the apartment. "Do you think you can drop these files at Shikamaru's? He and his **wives** need to sign a few things."

Naruto nodded, grinned and told Sakura goodbye. Sasuke didn't do anything but followed Naruto.

Suddenly, it came to Sasuke. "_**Wives**_?!"

Naruto chuckled. "Oh right...I forgot to tell you..Shikamaru is married to Temari **and** Ino.."

Sasuke almost choked. "What?"

"Haha, I'll tell you what happened later tonight teme,"

**Please, do me a favor and press that purple rectangular button below and type something nice for me? **

**The next two chapters by the way are going to be _Temari x Shikamaru x Ino_ For all you fans out there. Its gonna explain how he ended up with TWO WIVES. MWUAHHAHA I swear, I'm going to make him suffer in those chapters! No no, I'm not that mean. **

**Might as well tell you the chapter titles now.**

**Chapter 5. Shikamaru's Troublesome Lovelife (there will be two ministories for that one. One how Shika fell in love with Temari. The other how he falls in love with Ino)  
**

**Chapter 6. Shikamaru's Double Trouble (Thus, explaining how he got married to two people)**


	5. Troublesome Lovelife

**I am SO sorry. See, my computer is currently dying. It has a case of virus-fluenza. So I have to wait a while before I can go to the store and buy a cure for it so it might take a while before I update again. --currently at the library--**

**Thank yous too all you people who reviewed. You are truely loved I was like screaming up and down each time I got one. **

**I swear, I had to rewrite this 5 times before I was satisfied with it. Actually...I'm not at all satisfied with it.**

**Disclaimer: If I owned this, it wouldn't sell at all.**

**NOTE MUST READ: This is 2 years before the time line of the other chapters. Which means Sakura never got pregnant in this time and Sasuke never came back. Oh and sorry if the characters are very OOC. I'm not very familiar with these three characters.**

**A/n: Suna is the sand village right? I'm not getting it mixed up with some random place am I?

* * *

**

**Chapter 5. Shikamaru's Troublesome Lovelife**

_**What does ice cream taste like? - A Shikamaru and Temari story.**_

_Step 1 - Wait for her by the gates like you always do every month._

Shikamaru yawned loudly, not caring that some people who were passing by giggled. He had his hair in his usual ponytail and wore his chunin uniform.

His arm supported him as he leaned against the doors of Konoha. He looked at the sun. It fully rose, meaning it was already noon.

She was late.

He stared into the distance for the third time in those ten minutes when he noticed the blonde girl from the desert village approaching him. Shikamaru's lazy face perked up and he waved at Temari.

_Step 2 - Talk to her about files and all that. Then escort her to the Hokage's office._

"So did you get those paper filled yet?" he asked with yet another yawn. Shikamaru walked with his hands in his vest pockets and Temari had the large fan strapped to her back.

"Yeah, yeah," she replied.

_Step 3 - Ask her out to lunch._

_Step 4 - Accidentally drop your wallet. Bend down at the same time she bends down to pick up your wallet. Touch her hand by 'accident'._

"Do you want to go for lunch?" Shikamaru asked; his voice still in a normal tone.

"No thanks. I already ate."

"Okay...wait what?" Shikamaru wasn't expecting this. _'Oh crap. What to do?!? What to do!?!'_ He quickly analyzed all solutions in his head.

_Okay...subsitute for step 3 - Ask her if she can stay for a while._

"Uhh..." he started the conversation again. "How long are you going to be here?" The two had just dropped of the files at the Hokage's village and were now walking downstairs to leave the building.

She thought for a moment. Her hair in four ponytails slightly blew in the breeze when they walked out. "I think I'm going to leave now...I guess."

"Don't you want to...come shopping?" He blurted out.

Shikamaru hated his nervousness. Especially whenever he was around Temari and Ino. Mostly Temari since he's gotten a **tiny** bit used to Ino cause she's always around. But it was a fidgety feeling that even his mind of 200IQ couldn't understand.

He sighed. Okay. He knew he had a **tiny** crush on them. So tehcnically, his mind of 200IQ understood it but just didn't know how to deal with it.

Today, he came up with a whole plan. A plan to get Temari. Unfortunately, its already half ruined cause apparently a new (stupid) restaurant opened nearby her home and she already had lunch.

"Shopping?" she asked weirdly.

_'Shoot.'_ he mumbled in his mind. Temari was not the type of girl who liked shopping.

"Uh, yeah"

"Sure. I've always wanted to go to the Leaf's stores anyway." She smiled brightly which made Shikamaru even more nervous.

His eyebrow rose. Okay, maybe she does like shopping. He figured that with her rough additude, she was one of those tomboyish girls like Tenten.

"Wait..why do _you_ need to go shopping?" she asked him as they walked down the sidewalk.

"I uh...need to go buy some...socks..." If Naruto or Sakura were there, they'd be laughing so much. They'd point at the genius and laugh because his stupid mind of 200IQ couldn't think of anything better.

_Step 4 - Compliment her on EVERYTHING she tries on._

Temari quickly made a large pile right when she entered the designer store. At that moment, Shikamaru swore he had just discovered a new Sakura or Ino. She shopped just as fast.

"Aren't you going to try those on?" he asked.

She shook her head. "No. I have to hurry back soon and I already know my size."

_Step 4..ruined._

"Oh..." Shikamaru slightly mumbled.

"Aren't you going to go buy those socks?"

"Oh uh...I just realized I already have some." He rolled his eyes. If Naruto or Sakura were here. They'd **die** laughing. He'd be a mock of the whole village. Shikamaru would officially be the village's fool instead of the village's genius.

_Subsitute for step 4 - Take her to the park._

"Let's go to the park." He suggested.

"Why?" Temari held onto half her bags whiled Shikamaru offered to hold the other half. They were _very_ heavy.

"Because its nice there," he replied. _'Why are women so troublesome. They're always so curious. About EVERYTHING'_

"No." He looked at her. "Sorry Shikamaru. Today's been nice but I really have to go back home."

_Subsitute for step 4: failed._

"I'll walk you home."

"Are you allowed?" She asked.

_'Again with the freaking questions,'_ he told himself. "Uh yeah, I'll just stop by the office to tell Tsunade." he lied.

* * *

Temari stood impatiently outside of the Hokage's office, waiting for Shikamaru. She didn't know why he wanted her to stay so bad but it made her uncomfortable. All her friends--Sakura, Ino, Hinata and Tenten-- knew very well that she had a huge crush on him. Luckily, it wasn't as obsessive as it was for Sakura and Ino with Sasuke a couple years ago. 

"NO," She could hear the scream from Tsunade from the other room. Then, she heard Shikamaru come up with some excuse.

Temari slowly walked towards the door so she could hear it more clearly. Sakura's voice popped up, convincing Tsunade to let Shikamaru walk her home. All of a sudden, the door popped open and Temari could view the angry Hokage and Sakura trying to calm her down.

"Let's go," Shikamaru told her as he walked by. She slowly nodded, picked up her shopping bags, and made her way out with Shikamaru.

_Step 5 - Stare at the clouds..._

Temari frowned. She wasn't able to bring up a conversation since they'd left the Leaf. She didn't know what to talk about and the silnce was annoying her more than having to walk back and forth from her's and Shikamaru's village all the time. She glared at the 15 year old stare deeply into the sky blue skies and bright and puffy white clouds.

_'Look's like he's relaxed...'_ she let out a deep sigh when he interrupted.

"Let's stop here for some rest." he suggested.

"But I'm not tired." Temari smiled. Great, maybe he'll argue back and they'll have a decent conversation. "Besides, its already the afternoon, if we stop now, it'll be late by the time we reach my village." Her eyes wondered around while waiting for Shikamaru to reply. She stared at the green-yellow grass and the bright sun was blinding. But as they were heading towards Suna, the grass was appearing less and less.

Shikamaru sighed and turned to his right and started to walk to the nearby village.

"HEY! Where are you going?" Temari yelled out.

"Where do you think? I'm hungry and _we _need a break," he called back. She gave him a glare but followed after she realized he was still holding onto her shopping bags.

* * *

_Step 6 - Get something to eat. Talk. Talk. Flirt. Talk. Flirt. Move closer. Talk. Flirt. Flirt. Talk. Flirt. Closer. Closer. Closer._

"So what do you want to eat?" he asked as he sat down at the cafe and gave another yawn.

"Nothing. I told you, I already ate."

"Fine." He said and there was a moment of silence. His eyes wandered and stared at the desert girl. She stared back at him. "So..." he tried to start a conversation. Inside his head, he wondered why he originally planned to flirt with her. It was impossible to start a conversation and he had **no** clue whatsoever on how to flirt. He's seen Kiba and Rock Lee do it. He's also seen them get beaten up. Shikemaru sighed. He may be a genius at strategy plans and one of the smartest people in the village but he was useless when it came to girls.

_Step 6 - failed._

He sat there while leaning on the palm on his hand when the side of his lip curved.

_Step 7 - Order...an ice cream cone._

Soon, the waitress came and he gave an order. After, she came back, holding a cone with vanilla ice cream on it. The two got up, Temari holding the bags and began to walk, leaving the village. As they walked, Temari could hear Shikamaru licking it.

Once.

Twice.

Thrice.

And...he looked back at Temari before he was about to lick it the fourth time.

"What's that?" Although Shikamaru's face remained normal, inside, he was screaming of joy when Temari asked the question. _Fianlly, _one of his plans worked.

"An ice cream cone. What? You've never heard of one?" He smirked, knowing that growing up in a desert meant not being familiar with these types of frozen dessert. She shook her head. Shikamaru then went back to step 6. He moved closer. And closer. And closer. Then, he held out the hand that was holding the dessert and said, "Try it. It's really good."

Temari's eyebrow rose and she moved her face further away from him. She backed up a bit, stumbling slightly on her own two feet. Her eyes shifted to the side and watched the other people passing by. Luckily, no one was watching. She turned back to Shikamaru who not only held the cone closer but moved his face inwards too.

She started to freak out. What if she was blushing? She's heard Sakura's and Hinata's stories and being caught blushing is not a good moment.

"Well?" Shikamaru asked again. "This'll probably be a once in a lifetime oppourtunity.."

"What are you talking about? I can always come back here to get one." She fought back.

"This cone is going to melt soon as we get closer to your village. Its near the end of autumn. People usually don't sell ice creams in winter so you'll won't get a chance until April or even May. And who knows how busy you'll be then."

She thought for a moment. The cone did look really good. But wouldn't it be weird? After all, she had been complaining to him about stopping to eat in the first place. Temari stared at the cone as Shikamaru moved it closer towards her face. For God's sake, it was like he was bribing her or something. "Fine," she surrendered. She slowly leaned in and licked his cone. She moved back.

Shikamaru secretly smiled when Temari wasn't watching.

"Here," he handed her the cone.

"What? No!"

"You don't like it?"

"I like it but its your cone. For one, you paid for it and you're the one who's hungry."

"Nah..." Shikamaru yawned. "I wasn't really that hungry. Besides, I'm getting tired of eating ice cream anyway. I only bought it cause I didn't like anything else on the menu." He offered her the cone again.

"I said no, Shikamaru." Of course, Temari really wanted that cone. It was nothing like she's ever tasted. She wondered why she had been spending her whole life training instead of going to these villages to try different flavors of ice cream. But she felt so guilty just taking it from him.

He sighed. "Then if I have half, would you eat the other half?"

It didn't really occur to her that she'd probably be licking onto his own spit but she couldn't resist. "Whatever,"

* * *

After Shikamaru was finish with his half of the cone,--which was beginning to melt-- he switched with Temari. The shopping bags for the ice cream cone. 

She loved the ice cream. When she took a bite into the cream, it was a frozen sensation in her mouth that melted and tasted wonderful. But of course, she would never let Shikamaru know that.

By the time they got to the village, the sun was setting and it was beginning to grow dark. The path they were walking on weren't muddy or covered with spots of grass. Instead, it was either dry and cracked dirt or sand.

"You should stay here for the night. It's gonna be dangerous if you walk back home," Temari suggested and finished her cone. She regretted not taking the offer when Shikamaru wanted to give her the whole ice cream cone.

"Meh, sure." He shrugged and they entered her house.

"You can stay in one of my brother's room." She told him. "Well, good night." She was about to turn around when Shikamaru grabbed her hand.

"What? Shikamaru...!?" She started to panick. Her heart beated faster and faster as he leaned in.

He smirked and moved in closer. Their noses were practically touching. He then licked the side of her lip.

"You had ice cream there..." he waved and turned around, leaving a **very** red Temari.

* * *

_**Jealousy is not my thing**_ _**- A Shikamaru and Ino story.**_

They were loud.

No, Shikamaru wasn't thinking about his group of friends that sat around his table at the restaurant at the moment. The friends that consisted of Kiba, Shino, Naruto, Chouji and Lee.

No. They were louder.

"SAKURA!" He could hear his blond teammate whine even though the restaurant was completely full and everybody was talking all at once and the fact that the group of girls were sitting at the very end of the room.

"Urgh..why won't they just shut up?" he asked himself though no one heard since the room was very noisy.

* * *

He and his friends often stayed at the restaurant late. The owner of the place allowed them too since he owed the group of ninjas a lot during this one mission. Apparently, he owed the group of girls too since it was close to closing time, and Ino and her friends were still there too. 

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto cried out and waved to the rosette.

"Hey Naruto."

'_Great. Attract the whole group here.'_

Tenten, Hinata, Ino and Sakura started to walk over to their table.

"HEY SHIKAMARU!" Ino screamed in his ear.

He didn't reply.

Suddenly, the two groups were joined together and started talking and laughing all at once. Maybe he should go home. It was getting late anyway. He began to stand up. "I'm going to head home..." he said but wondered if anybody heard him.

"I wonder if there's anything to eat here?" a voice startled his thoughts. He, along with the others, turned their faces to the doorway when a group of 2 boys and 3 girls walked in. They certainly aren't from this village.

The boy, the one who was talking to a group of his friends, had a greyish blue hair and a buttoned black shirt.

Shikamaru ignored him and walked passed by the new group.

* * *

"He. Is. So. CUTE!" Shikamaru was with Naruto when they passed by Sakura and Ino. 

It was the next day and everything was the usual. Naruto and Shikamaru would go out for ramen, either head to the training grounds or to the Hokage's office and pass by Sakura and Ino who were chatting. It was also usual for Ino to be making Shikamaru closer to being deaf.

"Who is?" Shikamaru followed Naruto who poked his head into the girls' conversation.

"Klaus!" Ino squealed out the name.

Shikamaru was confused. "Oh right. You left before they introduced themselves. You know that really tall guy with the light blue hair! Well...he and his friends are visitors from the Ribbon village. They're going to be staying here for two weeks! Isn't that great Shika?" Ino stated.

He rolled his eyes and decided to ignore the rest of the conversation like he usually does.

"He was _so_ flirting with you Ino!" Sakura told her. This caught the genius' attention.

'_Flirting? With **Ino**?'_ Shikamaru didn't like the sound of that. The last time a guy flirted with Ino, they were both drunk, at a bar and if he wasn't there, they would've done something they'd--or only Ino-- surely regret.

"Anyway, Shika, we're all going back to the resaurant tonight. Wanna come?"

"No,"

"Come on Shikamaru!" Naruto said. Shikamaru shrugged. Naruto made a face. "Why? Is it because its too _troublesome_?" he mimicked the brilliant boy.

"Urgh..." Shikamaru moaned. "Yeah whatever, I'll go..."

"YAY!" Naruto and Ino cheered. Sakura laughed.

* * *

Again, Shikamaru's ears hurted. The restaurant was only filled with his friends, Ino's friends and the group of other ninjas, yet they sounded like a stadium filled with thousands of people. And no, he was not exagerating. 

He only watched as Ino held onto the boy's--who was probably Klaus-- arm while laughing along with him. It looked like those two had known each other for years.

Shikamaru glared at the blue haired boy who was...feeding Ino. The couple sat at a nearby table and Ino giggled happily as she opened her mouth, only to have Klaus feed her and vise versa.

His fists clentched.

"Jealous?" Shikamaru looked up and saw Sakura next to him.

"Why would I be?"

"Because you like Ino. Or...maybe even.." Sakura smiled. "Love?"

"Shut up," his face looked away from Sakura's and went back to staring at Ino and her new boyfriend again.

"If you really like her, you should tell her...Unless there's something going on between..you and Temari." Sakura was a genius at finding out these things. Automatically, Shikamaru was quickly startled by that last sentence.

"Awe.." Sakura started again. "So who do you like..I mean..love more? Temari or Ino?" She squestioned but Shikamaru didn't say or do anything.

"If you already know the answer, why are you bothering me with these questions?"

Sakura smiled and moved her chin length pink hair behind her ear. "Just..because."

Shikamaru sighed as Kiba called Sakura over and she left. There would be no way in hell he would be able to answer _that _question. Even with a list of pros and cons, his feelings for Temari and Ino would be the same. But it was greedy, asking for two. And since he already had Temari, there's no point in asking for Ino too.

But as he stared at the guy who had just given Ino a small peck on the cheek, his rage was building.

* * *

After a couple days of not seeing Ino, his team was called for a small mission. He and Chouji met at the location waiting for Ino. 

"Where could she be?" Choiji complained for Ino's lateness while he gobbled up a handful of chips.

At that instant, Shikamaru looked up when he felt _their_ chakra presence. Ino giggled again as the guy carried her bridal style.

"Later Klaus!!!" She squealed after he let her down. He waved back and left.

All Shikamaru wanted to do was run up to that guy and punch him in the face.

* * *

"What's your problem Shikamaru?" Sakura asked. It had been about a week and a half since Ino started dating Klaus. 

"Nothing." Shikmaru replied.

They were both in the Hokage's office, waiting for Tsunade to arrive but figured that she was probably off drinking somewhere.

"You haven't stared at the clouds once since the group from the Ribbon village arrived." She rolled her eyes. "Could it be..you're jeal--

"I'm not jealous!" Shikamaru snapped back at her. "Besides, its not my thing."

"Not your thing?" Sakura's eyebrow rose.

"Yes. Its not my thing. Jealousy is more of...Sasuke's, if he was here...or Neji...You know..those people who're used to being so high and mighty but envy those who surpass them."

"Pfft," Sakura gave up and let out a long sigh. "Oh well...I guess since you don't care, I don't have to tell you.."

"Tell me what?" Shikamaru knew that he was falling right into Sakura's trap.

"Oh...nothing...you should know anyway...everybody else does..I meant.. you know how Ino never keeps secrets long enough." Of course, Shikamaru knew Sakura was lying when she meant _everybody._ He knew Ino could keep secrets and the fact that he hasn't heard Naruto spreading the news meant that Ino has only told Sakura about this.

"Uh huh...well you don't have to tell me." Shikamaru smiled.

"URGH. " Sakura groaned. She **needed** to tell him yet he was only making this harder.

Shikamaru smiled again as he went through a few files. This time, it was her who was falling into his trap.

"FINE. KLAUS ASKED INO TO MOVE TO HIS VILLAGE AND SPEAD THE REST OF HER LIFE WITH HIM!" Sakura was a horrible secret keeper. True, she could keep secrets that were meant to be kept but casual things like this was a no-no. She was just as bad as Naruto.

* * *

He tapped his fingers continuously as he sat in the restaurant with Naruto, Kiba and Chouji. They were doing the usual: chatting, laughing, eating, more eating and fighting. But he could only focus onto Ino who sat at a different table a few feet away from them. Obviously, she was sitting with the blue-grey haired loser who's goal was to take Ino away from the Leaf village. 

He watched them.

They held their hands.

She giggled.

He suffocated her with kisses.

On her forehead, her cheek...her lips...her neck!?!

He slammed his fist onto the table, attracting other peoples' attention.

Naruto and Kiba stopped arguing. Chouji--shockingly-- stopped eating.

"Is everything okay Shikamaru?" Kiba asked.

"Yeah..just a bit stressed about some things Tsunade assigned me. That's all." Shikamaru lied. "I think I'm going to go watch some clouds. Later," he excused himself and left, passing by the only couple who weren't distracted by the loud banging noise of his hand.

* * *

Today was the day all of Shikamaru's worries were over. In fact, it was the same day that the Ribbon ninja were leaving. The lazy ninja woke up and stared at the clouds for about an hour before he came downstairs to have breakfast. 

He walked to the Hokage's office, handed her some files, left and went to Chouji's house. They went to the training grounds, saw Naruto at the ramen stand, told him hello, went to get barbecue for lunch and back to the training grounds. After, Chouji ate more food while Shikamaru leaned against a tree, staring off into the sky which was officially cloudless.

_'Something's wrong.'_ Shikamaru told himself. He scanned through his head, repeating days in the past into his head and wondered what was missing. _'I wake up, stare at the clouds, go eat breakfast, find Chouji, walk past flower shop...'_ Thats when it hit him. They had went passed the flower shop but the person who greeted him was Ino's mother and not her.

"Chouji," he spoke up. The chubby boy looked at him. "Where's Ino?"

"uh..I heard something about a going away party for those Ribbon nin," Chouji replied and soon after, started muching on his junk food again.

"Oh," But Shikamaru wasn't as content as he was this morning. The words that Sakura spoke rang through his head repetitively.

* * *

It was about 9 p.m. and Shikamaru was going on a short walk. Another reason for this was so he could pass by the flower shop to see if Ino was home yet. 

She wasn't.

"How troublesome," he mumbled. His hands were in his pockets and he walked towards the fields which were next to the gates of Konoha. Maybe he could relax here a bit.

A noise startled him and he looked to the side. It was Ino.

"Huh? Shika? What are you doing here?" She asked.

"Uh, nothing. Just a late night walk." he replied. "What are you doing here?" He looked at her but his eyes widened when he saw her holding onto a large bag. He asked himself if they were full of her belongings.

"Oh, I'm meeting Klaus here. I have to answer his question."

"Oh," he didn't sound happy, Ino could tell.

"Is everything okay Shika?" she asked again.

There was a moment of silence. "Don't leave." He finally said.

"What?"

"I said don't leave. Don't leave this village. Don't leave your friends. Don't leave me!" He yelled out. "I know that guy asked you to go live with him but he doesn't deserve someone like you!"

"What? Did Sakura tell you this?!" Ino yelled back. Shikamaru rolled his eyes. She was obviously avoiding the topic.

"You barely know him. You two met and have known each other for only two weeks. Don't make a stupid decision Ino."

* * *

He froze and his cheek was numb. He only stared back at Ino who didn't bother looking back. 

"This is my business Shikamaru." she walked off.

* * *

Shikamaru stared into the dark sky. He leaned against a tree and thought back to what had happened. He didn't even get the change to tell Ino before she walked off. Instead, he just made her more mad. 

"Shikamaru..." he turned around and saw the blonde. Shikamaru didn't say anything. She kneeled down next to him and held her hand out to his cheek where she slapped him.

"You didn't leave?" He asked her.

She shook her head. "Of course not. I wasn't planning on leaving anyway. What gave you that idea?"

"The bag."

"Oh that, that was just some goodies for Klaus." Shikamaru didn't say anything. He felt so foolish. For once in his life, he realized he didn't even think before telling Ino all those things.

"So.." Ino started again. "You were...worried?" She glanced at him and smirked.

_'Oh...great...'_ Shikamaru did **not **want to answer.

"You cared about me...?" She was enjoying this as Shikamaru only looked away. "You...didn't want me to..._'leave you'_" she quoted him from earlier.

"YEAH YEAH WHATEVER," he spoke out making her laugh. She sat down next to him.

"We broke up a few days ago Shikamaru. Even so, I wouldn't have left." He didn't reply. Instead, he looked back up at the half moon in the sky.

"Thank you...Shika." she kissed him on the cheek and rested her head against his shoulders. He smiled.

Maybe not planning every possibility wasn't as bad as he thought.

* * *

_A year or so later._

"Kay, later Sakura." Shikamaru told the pregnant rosette as he left the Hokage's office. It was a couple months ago that Sakura came back from her mission and had gotten pregnant.

He looked at his watch and waited by the gates of Konoha. She was ten minutes late.

"Shikamaru!" He heard her call out. She gave him a quick peck on the lips.

"Good morning Temari.."

Temari smiled. "Sorry but Gaara's been complaining about me seeing you so often. I have to go as soon as I recieve some files from Tsunade. Shikamaru frowned.

"Fine."

After, Temari left.

"Shika!" He heard her call out. She clung onto his shoulders and giggled with her musical laughter.

"Good morning Ino.."

Ino smiled. "Come on, lets go to the park."

"Sure," Shikamaru replied as Ino ran off ahead of him.

He licked his dry lips.

The taste of strawberry from _Temari's_ lip balm.

He took a deep breathe.

The smell of roses from _Ino's_ hair.

He thought for a moment.

"Oh crap."

* * *

**Just to tell you...The Temari and Shikamaru thing was like a random story. I came up of the whole thing as I typed it out while eating ice cream. The Ino thing I had planned but I'm not really familiar with the couple anyway so meh.**

**So sorry if you were disappointed in this chapter.**

**Next chapter will probably be ZEE MOST COMPLICATED WEIRDEST chapter you'll ever read. I'm currently planning out how to write it and its so complicated! **

**Remember to review.** ...**_Please?_**


	6. Double Trouble

**In this chapter (the most weirdest chapter you'll ever read), it's based on a Chinese traditional wedding.**

**Disclaimer: God...if I owned this...this chapter will kill all TemarixShikamaruxIno fans.**

**Warning: First, ever, TemxShikaxIno fic.**

**Chapter 6. Double Trouble - _The story of how the lazy Nara, got two wives._**

"I will **not**" Temari yelled out to her younger brother who sat comfortably on his chair with an emotionless face.

"Temari.." he began to say. The blonde looked at him again, her eyes almost tearing. "You know that–

He was cut off by his sister again. "Why can't you ask Tsunade? And why _me_?" It had been a while since she was this angry.

They were in the Kazekage's office and Temari stood opposite of her youngest brother and right of her other brother.

Gaara took a deep sigh. "Tsunade's trying the best she could but being Hokage still doesn't mean you're in charge of _everything._ Besides, you know what happened. A group of ninjas from our village had been secretly sending out personal files to ninjas from other villages. Since the spies were caught by Leaf ninjas, the elders there suspect something is going on and do not fully think we are on their side no matter how much Tsunade trusts us. The elders demand a bride from our village to wed with a man from there's. As Kazekage, if I were to send some random girl up to their home, it will be the same as not caring about the trusting situation." Gaara eyed his sister with his jet black eyes. "I have to send you."

"But I love–

"Temari...stop it." It was Kankuro this time. "We're sorry about the whole Shikamaru thing but **you** are getting **married** with **someone** else."

Temari took out her fan but instead of opening it, she launched the entire object into Kankuro's face and left off, stomping. Kankuro yelled out an 'ow' but Gaara stayed silent. He really hated this but it was very hard, even for him, to control.

She refused to let her brothers see her face at that moment. She's never cried before and never will. She sniffed and tried her best to prevent tears from rolling down her cheeks as she walked down the hall towards her room. She wiped the one tear that managed to escape her eyes off her face. She wanted Shikamaru.

Only Shikamaru.

* * *

Many weeks had passed by and person after person would knock onto Temari's room to discuss the details of the wedding. Apparently, because the man she was marrying had some Chinese background. They were going to have a traditional Chinese wedding where the bride would wear a red veil, taken to the ceremony by a coach and bow to the heavens and all that. Temari rolled her eyes each time. 

She was depressed but it was the only way the elders would except their trust. _'Stupid Leaf elders,_' she thought.

* * *

"Shikamaru?" Ino called out and he instantly turned around. He knew it was a bad thing when she called him that instead of the usual 'Shika'. It was later in the afternoon and he was heading home from the academy where he was helping Iruka. 

"Yeah?" he asked lazily. His eyes watched the blond approach him.

"You know...how our dads..." Ino started and Shikamaru instantly knew what she was going to say. It was last week when he found out the elders were forcing Temari to break up with him and marry some other guy. It was few days after that, that both his dad and Ino's dad wanted them to wed. Soon. So they could have grandchildren. Troublesome.

"You can break the engagement if you want..."

He stared at her again. "Do _you_ want to break it off?" He asked her.

"No but its just...what about Temari?"

He sighed. "She's getting married with someone else. Besides, why do you think I'm going to break it off with you just because--" he froze. "How did you know--

"How did I know that you and Temari were together while still going out with me?" Ino cut in. He nodded.

"We always talk about our boyfriends during our monthly shopping trips. It just so happened that she and I were discussing about you. But we decided to continue letting you date us until you confess, though that never happened."

"Oh.." he took in a deep breath. He slightly smiled. "I'm still getting married with you...if you want." She smiled back.

"Of course I want to."

Though, selfishly, he still wanted to be with Temari as well as Ino.

* * *

It was the day of Temari's and one of the Leaf's bachelor's wedding. 

It was also the day of Shikamaru and Ino's wedding.

Shikamaru fidgeted with the large outfit he was given for his wedding. It was a bright crimson red color that almost blinded his eyes. It turns out that Ino's mother had a bit of Chinese background in her and they wanted a traditional Chinese wedding. He yawned. Great, another thing to remind him of Temari.

"Excuse me?" he heard a man call from behind. It was a coachman who was dressed finely. "We're supposed to bring a Miss Temari to a wedding today but we lost the address. We were wondering if you know where it is?"

"We also need the address to Miss Ino's wedding," another coachman came, also dressed in fine silk.

Shikamaru's eyebrow rose and he slightly smiled. "Sure. For Temari's wedding, go here.." he wrote down the directions to the place of the ceremony. "You'll have to be there by 12 and for Ino's wedding," he turned to the other coachman. "Take her here...and her's and my wedding start at around 12:30."

The two coachmen nodded and left in different directions.

Shikamaru smiled brightly.

* * *

"Quick! Quick! Why aren't you leaving?!" Ino yelled at the coachmen. She had her red veil on and it was hard to see where she was going. She got onto the carriage and commanded them to leave. 

"But the wedding doesn't start until 12:30. We're early!" The coachman said.

"What? Who told you that?" Ino yelled at them though kept on a straight face. She didn't want to ruin her hair and makeup.

"But we were instructed to go at 12:30!"

"It starts at 12! Get moving!"

"Yes, miss!"

* * *

The ceremony started as the clock stroke 12. The entire room was in red and Shikamaru felt like he was camouflaged with his own scarlet clothes. Even the ribbon that tied around his ponytail was red. He waited at the end of the room in front of his dad and Ino's dad who sat on chairs with an end table between them. 

Finally, the carriage arrived and his future wife got off.

He noticed Naruto and Sakura, along with the rest of the crowd, all gathered near the front to see her. He rolled his eyes. What was the point? She was covered with a red veil and no one can see her face until he lifts it up at the end.

She slowly walked down the room towards him and he smiled.

They both got onto their knees and bowed towards the door way as a sign to the heavens. Then towards the two fathers and to each other. It was almost like bowing towards the north, south, east and west.

Finally. They were married.

Shikamaru couldn't help but smile. His father smiled along with him but noticed something strange.

"STOP!" It was a familiar cry and they all turned towards the door. Another bride dressed in similar Chinese wedding gown ran in with a veil slightly lifted from her face so she could see where she was going while also, revealing her face.

"Ino?" her father cried out.

"Wait, what?" The bride that had just gotten married to Shikamaru lifted her veil and her eyes widened.

"Temari?" Ino yelled out. "What are you doing here?"

"Getting married but..." Temari turned to the groom. "What the hell? I wasn't supposed to marry you!"

* * *

Tsunade and the elders soon came since no one appeared at the other wedding. 

Tsunade sighed. Many could notice a vien popping on the side of her forehead. She was _very_ frustrated. "Okay..." she turned to the coachmen. "You were **both** told to come here with the brides?"

They fearfully nodded.

She turned to where Shikamaru and his friends and family were standing. "So...because of the confusion..you got married to Temari by accident?" He shook his head, yes.

"Why don't we let them stay married?" Shizune suggested. "They were already together before and its still having a sand shinobi marry someone from the Leaf so I'm sure the elders won't mind." She turned to the old couple who nodded.

"But this was an arranged marriage between the Nara's and the Yamanaka's." Shikamaru's mother told them. They all thought for a moment.

"Well, between them, who do you choose Shikamaru?" Sakura whispered over to Shikamaru.

"..." he stayed silent and he knew she knew that he can't choose between them.

Sakura sighed. "I have an idea," she yelled out for all to hear. They placed their eyes on the pink-headed girl.

Ino and Temari stood close to each other and were almost shaking. Who would've known that their wedding day would be so chaotic. They focused onto their pregnant friend–who by the way is probably one of those people who actually looked good pregnant.

"I think since Shikamaru here is in love with both, we should continue his and Temari's ceremony today and he can get married to Ino tomorrow."

Their eyes widened. Some laughed. It was such a ridiculous idea that many thought it was because Naruto was starting to rub off on her but Tsunade thought for a moment. Whispers filled the room and the feeling only made it worsen for the two brides.

"I think that's a great plan." Shikamaru's dad spoke up. Tsunade nodded.

"Then we will continue."

* * *

Ino took off her gown and makeup. She could not believe she actually agreed to this. Before, sharing a boyfriend with that sand girl was okay...possibly being too nice but..**this!??!** Sharing a husband. She sighed. Shikamaru was being way too spoiled. 

"Shikamaru is too spoiled," Temari muttered as she walked over to the other blond.

"Just what I was thinking," Ino replied. "But I guess we can take turns and help each other torture him for the rest of our lives..."

"Hmm...I agree..."

Shikamaru watched as his new wife and his soon to be second wife chatted and laughed playfully. He breathed out. Good. They get along. No troubles. No troubles at all.

* * *

"How will the sleeping arrangements work?" His father whispered to Shikamaru as they stood by the table, taking sips from their glass of wine. 

"Simple. Taking turns. I'll sleep with one of them every other day."

His father's eyes widened. "What?" He thought for a moment and looked at his intellectual son. Then he shook his head, mumbling, "Can't be.."

Mr. Nara walked off over to the coachmen. "Say...who gave you those addresses?" He wondered how both the coachmen received the same location to deliver the brides.

"Oh..that man gave it to us." They both pointed over to Shikamaru.

"...I knew it." His father mumbled. "He thinks women are troublesome yet...he managed to get two...he planned this all along!"

* * *

**Eeekkkkk, I hate, hate _hate_ this chapter. Why in the world did I write a chapter about Shikamaru getting two wives?!?! It was probably the hardest thing I had to ever write.**

**I actually chose a Chinese traditional wedding because, if you've seen many of the Chinese dramas that take place in the medievil times-ish era, many romantic- comedies have the whole thing where they get married to the wrong bride just because they don't see her face until the end of the wedding when the groom lifts her veil.**

**I'll make sure the next chapter is less weird (since its not going to be on Shikamaru and them)**

**Please review. You know its what keeps me updating and living. Yeshhh...reviews are my source of life. Would it be a little too selfish asking for at least 8 reviews for this chapter?.**


	7. Team 7, Once Again

**I'm sorry. I guess I didn't make it clear. For this story, I'm planning to have the overall couple to be Sasuke and Sakura. I'm just including other couples from time to time to let you readers know what's happening with them. So from now on, I'll just tell you what the pairings are for that chapter. Thanks for the reviews by the way. -luffs you-**

**Pairing for this chapter: Sasu x Saku**

**Friendship for this chapter****: Team 7 (somewhat)**

**Disclaimer: One day...One day I will own!**

**Chapter 7. Team 7 Once Again.**

Her eyes slowly opened to the sound of the baby's cries. Her light pink hair looked like a haystack as she got up and off her bed and over towards the crib.

'_Definitely Sasuke's genetics,'_ she thought. It was the fifth time that morning that the infant woke her up. True, it's normal for a baby to cry that often but Sakura had a feeling it was because Sasuke was a crybaby when he was younger so the genes rubbed off on her child. Sakura slowly cradled her back and forth.

"Shh.." she slightly whispered. Sakura glanced over towards the clock. She sighed and continued to rock Sumi back and forth. It was almost 6am.

After the baby stopped crying, Sakura gently placed her daughter back into the crib. She walked into the bathroom and looked at her reflection in the clean vanity. She combed her fingers through her hair and took a few deep breaths. She was **really** tired. "Oh well," she told herself. "Might as well wake Naruto up." It had become a tradition that started a few years ago for Sakura to wake Naruto up every morning. If she didn't, he'd sleep in and forget about waking up to whatever he was supposed to do that day. Even when she was pregnant, Sakura still walked over to his house before arriving at the hospital.

* * *

_Knock, knock._

Sakura carried her baby and stood outside of Naruto's apartment door. Her haystack hair was neatly brushed. She wore her old red shirt though it didn't have the Haruno clan symbol on the back. It was a loose shirt that fitted her nicely; not too baggy, not too tight. She had actually grown tired of wearing those uncomfortable tight clothes that she'd used to wear when she was younger. Along with it, she wore tan shorts. How she missed wearing them. It had been a while since she was stuck wearing large clothes for the past few months.

Although Tsunade had given her the next two to three weeks off, she still didn't feel right staying at home.

There was no reply. She rolled her eyes. Naruto was probably still sleeping. If only her daughter were like that, she wouldn't have those bags under her eyes.

She reached into the pockets of her shorts and grabbed out a key. Naruto had given her a spare key after she knocked the door down a few months ago. Of course, she was pregnant and had hormones. So, technically, it wasn't her fault that her mood swings made her punch a large hole into the door and break the doorknob off.

Sakura opened the door and found the blond sleeping, snoring slightly. She felt like puking. The stench of ramen was overpowering.

"Well...it's only 6:30," she told herself, glancing at his alarm clock. "I'll wait until 7 before waking him up!" She sat down on a nearby chair, slowly rocking Sumi who had just woken up and was studying the room. Her dark green eyes moved back and forth.

Sakura looked at the room, covered in clothes and empty ramen cups. What caught her eye was the black tank-top and sweat pants folded neatly on the side of the room.

Suddenly, the bathroom door swung opened and a man stepped out. His shaggy hair, Sakura noticed, was wet and dripping onto the floor. He was wiping his face with a towel. Sakura moved her eyes down. He was wearing...**nothing.**

"Oh my freaking God!" She screamed though her daughter remained calm, still exploring the room with her eyes and Naruto stayed asleep.

"What the hell!?" Sasuke quickly took the towel off his face and wrapped it around his waist.

Sakura's face was litterally more red that her usual shade of blush.

"What are you doing here?" they said in sync.

"I always come here every morning," Sakura answered first. She was still looking away from him and resisted the temptation to stare at his abs and muscular arms. Her face was still red– blending into her shirt– with Sasuke's naked picture, unfortunately, still in her head. She tried to shake it out.

"The Hokage made me stay here for the night," Sasuke spoke up and Sakura turned her face back to him. He grabbed the black shirt and slid it over his head.

"Oh," Sakure mumbled. "Eek!" she yelped when Sasuke took off the towel to put on his boxers.

"Hn, what's wrong?" He put on his sweatpants. "You've already seen me nak–

"Shh!" Sakura shushed him when Naruto could be heard moving around on the bed. With a yawn, he got up.

"Oh...Sasuke...Sakura, you're already here and awake." He chuckled and got up. Luckily, he was too tired to even notice Sakura's crimson face. "I'm going to go brush my teeth. Oh, Sasuke, your headband is somewhere on that shelf over there," Naruto pointed to a messy shelf covered in practically anything possible. He grabbed his own Leaf headband that was hanging off the bed's headboard and headed towards the washroom, shutting the door on his way in. The sound of the shower running could be heard.

"As I was saying," Sasuke started again as he walked towards the shelf to find his old headband he was surprised that Naruto kept, "you've already seen me naked. Twice, including earlier's incident." he smirked. "What's wrong with seeing me getting dress in front of you?"

"If you don't really care, then why did you react when you saw me after you came out of the washroom?" her face started to fade back to its usual skin tone.

"Hn, I was just shocked to find you here."

"Well then, so was I!" Sakura felt like punching his face. He was being rude and she hated it. True, it got him to talk but still, she'd rather he sit in his little corner being a mime then acting so stupid. Hey, if they got to train later, she might have a chance to actually do some damage to that face of his.

He smirked. Oh how he enjoyed making her frustrated. "Really? Then I guess you won't freak out if I were to undress again."

"Argh!" she gave up. There was no way in hell she could be in the same room as him alone. She stomped outside of Naruto's apartment and waited outside of the door.

* * *

The three– four including the baby– headed to the Hokage's office. It was almost 8 and if they were late, Tsunade would have a fit yelling at them. 

When Naruto turned the knob, Tsunade was already sitting in her chair with many papers in front of her. "Come in," she said. "Sakura? Shouldn't you be at home, resting?"

"Oh..uh.." she smiled innocently.

"Nevermind," Tsunade continued. "Please sit."

The three sat on nearby chairs. Sakura let Shizune hold her daughtr as they awaited for Sasuke's punishment.

Tsunade sighed. "Just a few more minutes..."

With a puff of smoke, their genin sensei appeared, holding his orange book.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto greeted.

It had been a while since he's seen his old teacher. Sasuke noticed that Kakashi's features, unlike his other two teammates, hadn't really changed.

Kakashi stared at Sasuke, then smiled. "Long time no see, Sasuke," he told him and Sasuke nodded, greeting back.

"Anyway," Tsunade started, "after many arguments with the elders, we've decided on your punishment. As you already know, you are not allowed to go within a mile of Konoha's boarders or else that anklet's alarm will go off. It'll also go off if you or someone else were to break it and it's not supposed to be easily broken either. ANBU will be immediately signalled to go find you if any of those two scenarios were to happen. You aren't to go on any missions for the next 6 months..unless you were needed and even if you don't need one, during a mission, you'll be accompanied by a jounin or multiple chunin. After the 6 months, we'll slowly let you have more and more privileges until your punishment is off. Lastly," Tsunade took a sip from her sake, "your living arrangements. We have all the belongings that you left behind packed up. Since we were unable to keep your apartment, you're going to have to move back to the Uchiha manor."

Sasuke flinched. He hadn't been in that home since he was around 8 years old.

"Is that okay? I mean...you did avenger your family by killing your brother.." Tsunade eyed the Uchiha.

He nodded and Sakura gave a worried look. She knew he was lying. Itachi was still alive.

"Then would you be comfortable living there again?" Tsunade questioned again and waited for him to finish thinking and answer. He nodded his head.

"Great. I knew you were going to say that so all your stuff is already at the manor. That'll be it. Oh, and Sakura? I need to speak to you for a moment."

"We'll be at the usual training grounds," Kakashi told Sakura and the rest of her team headed off.

"Yeah?" the green eyed girl asked.

"So have you made arrangements to how you and Sasuke are going to raise Sumi without being caught?" Tsunade looked back at Shizune who was still holding onto the baby.

"Uh...do we need one?"

"Sakura, you know you have to keep this a secret for..I don't know, one, maybe two years?" She made it sound as if it was an easy task. "You and Sasuke should know what to do in order to take care of the baby. I mean...what if Naruto –no wait, scratch that. What if Neji or Ino or one of your other friends find out? What if one of the villagers find out?"

Sakura sighed. "I don't really think its going to be that much of a problem though. Sasuke never talks and the only times I'm ever going to be with him is if Naruto or Kakashi is there so if someone comes by, they'll think we're doing some team stuff."

"Are you sure?" This time it was Shizune who spoke. She seemed worried and Sakura knew it was because her daughter had Uchiha blood but was confident enough that nothing was going to happen.

"Yeah," Sakura smiled. "Don't worry, I can handle it." Shizune gave the baby to Sakura to hold and she waved with one hand, leaving the room.

After the door closed, Tsunade still stood there.

"Tsunade?" Shizune said with a question in her voice. She noticed that her master had a serious look on her face. The mouth's curves on the Hokage's face almost formed a frown and Shizune could tell something was wrong.

"...I don't know...I have a feeling that even if no one in the village finds out, someone outside will."

* * *

Sakura could hear the sounds of weapons clashing as she approached the training grounds. 

"Kakashi! Naruto! Sas.." Something held her voice back from calling his name out. Maybe it was a sudden realization that Sasuke was back in the village. After all, it had been years since she called out his name in a friendly manner. She walked to where Kakashi was sitting. Suddenly, another thing hit Sakura. Her bright jade eyes widened as she wittnessed this. Sasuke...Naruto...they were training while making rude comments about each other. Kakashi was silent, only focussing on reading his porno book, giggling every now and then. The sky was bright blue, the sun was out. Clouds were puffy and white. All that was left was for her to come and join their training or watch them. To Sakura, it felt like nothing had ever changed. Everything was like it used to be. Everything felt, normal...it felt...right.

"Oh..Sakura!" Kakashi called out.

"Kakashi-sensei! May I please train?" she begged, almost whining. Naruto and Sasuke stopped their fight.

"What? Sakura! You just got out of the hospital. Besides, if the old lady finds out, we're dead!" Kakashi still held onto his book.

"Please! I haven't sparred in so long!"

"Fine." Kakashi sighed after a brief moment. "You can spar with Naruto...just don't tell anybody I let you do this."

"Can't I spar with Sasuke? Naruto goes too easy on me. Besides, I already know all of Naruto's techniques." Sakura asked again.

"Sakura, he was supposed to go easy on you. You were pregnant and had mood swings. If we didn't let you spar, you would've killed us." Kakashi replied.

She pouted.

"I'll spar." Sasuke's voice popped up. Sakura smirked.

She handed the baby to Naruto. "Don't wake her up. You know how she cries to perverts."

"HEY!"

She laughed as she walked further away and stood across from Sasuke.

The Uchiha eyed the girl standing opposite from him. His eyes were still ebony and decided to keep it that way since it was just practice and his Sharingan wasn't needed. He noticed that she was tying her shoulder length pink hair into a ponytail and got into her stance. He remembered that when they met 9 months ago, she was seriously injured but still managed to build enough chakra to smash the ground. He got into position. He had to keep that in mind if he didn't want to get hurt.

Sakura made the first move. She charged at Sasuke with full speed and built up a small amount of chakra into her fists.

He quickly dodged it but Sakura's fist went onto the ground were it slightly trembled. She lifted her leg up and filled it with a large amount of chakra. She managed to kick Sasuke in the face and he went flying straight up. She grinned. "That, was for earlier," she quietly said referring to that morning's inncident.

Sasuke quickly regained stability and came down towards Sakura with three kunais in his hand. He threw them at her but she dodged each one and slammed her fist into the ground making the terrain more rocky and to her advantage since she was used to fighting like that. She quickly hid behind the large boulders when he used his jutsu and a large fireball came out.

Sakura sneaked up behind him through the smoke and launched her fist.

Sasuke sensed this and dodged it, grabbing onto her wrist. "Why is it that you always aim for my head? More specificly, my face?" he quickly asked her.

She didn't reply and lifted her knee up and kneed him in the gut. Still holding onto her wrist, he twisted it and threw her against a tree. She landed and fell to her knees.

Sasuke reached into his pocket to grab a few shuriken when he noticed that Sakura was groaning.

He stopped. His heart was beating faster and faster. What if something was wrong with her? Did he go too hard? She did just get out of the hospital.

"Sakura? Are you okay...?" Sasuke took a few steps closer when he noticed she was smirking. Quickly, she launched herself at him with a fist in the air.

She made a battle cry and punched him in the cheek.

What is with her and aiming for the face?

"Ha, I never thought you'd be that gullible, Sasuke." Sakura laughed and Naruto joined her.

"Haha, teme! You fell for it!"

"Shut up!" Sasuke yelled out as he got up.

Again, they started to fight each other and Sasuke took out his kunai and threw it towards Sakura. It missed but Sasuke smirked. He threw many more kunais towards her but each time, she easily dodged it. She made her way towards him but quickly thought of something. Those kunais that he launched at her could've been easily dodged by anyone. He was coming up with a plan, Sakura knew it. She moved her eyes around, marking for any traps but still ran towards him at full speed.

He preformed hand signs and let out another fire jutsu. It traveled onto the invisible strings that were attached to the kunais and surrounded Sakura.

She clenched her fist and punched a nearby tree. It fell, bringing the strings down with it. The fire died out. She couldn't see through the smoke.

Sasuke activated his sharingan and sneaked up behind Sakura. He kicked her on the back and she fell.

She started to groan of pain again.

"I'm not falling for that one again Sakura," he said but this time, nothing happened. Sakura just laid there.

Kakashi put down his book and he and Naruto immediately got up, heading towards her. Sasuke's heart started to beat again. He started to worry. Sakura's pain right now wasn't a joke.

"Sa...Sakura?" he stuttered.

Naruto and Kakashi stood around Sakura.

"Don't worry. It's just a small cramp..." She stood up. Her hand was holding onto the left side of her waist.

"Are you sure?" Kakashi asked her. She nodded.

"Alright. I guess it's time to go now anyway."

Naruto gave Sumi to Sakura and said, "Yes! Lunch time!" he headed off with Kakashi.

"I'm going to go home now actually. I need a proper lunch until I get used to the smell of ramen again. Bye," she waved them off and turned another direction.

Sasuke walked with Naruto and Kakashi for a while but then stopped in his tracks. "I'm not in the mood for ramen. Besides, I'm not hungry." he walked off quickly. He needed to find her.

* * *

When Sasuke managed to catch up with Sakura, he walked up beside her. 

"Yeah?" she asked.

"Are you sure you're okay?" he asked again, feeling worried and guilty. The guiltiness, he was used to. He had been feeling that way since he got Sakura pregnant and returned to the village. It was just the worried feeling that was foreign to him. He didn't know why he was so scared for her.

"Yeah," she said again.

"Here, let me hold her," Sasuke offered to hold the baby and Sakura gently smiled.

"Sure."

It seemed like he had gotten used to holding Sumi since this time, he didn't have any trouble getting into the right position. All was silent until Sakura spoke up.

"Did Naruto tell you about my family?" she said quietly. Her voice was full of sadness and possibly anger if you listened closely.

"Aa." Was there something else he was supposed to say? An apology? Sasuke certainly knew that it was partly his fault that this had happened. There was silence. Was she expecting an apology? Should he say it now? Sasuke thought about it but by the time he decided to say so, too much time had passed by and it would've felt strange to suddenly telling her.

Sasuke suddenly felt something move in his arms. He looked down, along with Sakura. The baby was awake and her arms were moving around. She glanced up at her father who stared back softly with his darker eyes. His right arm moved up and his hand touched her cheek.

Sakura smiled. She treasured these moments since it was one of those rare times where Sasuke looked so soft.

The baby turned her head and looked at Sakura. She opened her mouth and tried to speak but all the baby could say was "aabuuu".

Sakura giggled and Sasuke smirked. Suddenly, Sumi's hands reached up and grabbed onto Sasuke's fingers.

Sasuke smiled. He felt so warm and happy.

When Sakura stopped walking, it caught his attention and he looked up. They were already at her apartment. He gave her the baby and she told him goodbye. But when she turned around, he said, "Wait."

She turned around to look back at him.

He froze. He wasn't planning on saying it but he looked up at her. "I'm sorry. It's my fault that you're living like this."

She blinked a few times and pinched herself to make sure she wasn't dreaming. Surprisingly, she wasn't dreaming. Sakura lightly smiled. "It's okay, Sasuke. Thank you. But wasn't entirely your fault. I had some responsibility in it too..And I don't care that my family isn't here. I have everybody else. I actually prefer living like this than how I was living before. " She turned around and he nodded, heading towards his home.

Sakura opened the apartment door and walked inside. _'Because living like this means having you here.'_

_

* * *

_

**I think I'm going to make this story a bit more dramatic..._soon._ In a few more chappies maybe. I'm in the mood to kill of a character.**

**So if you have a request to kill anybody off, please give me a good enough reason why though I'm a hundred percent sure this person is gonna die. Though I'm not sure whether or not to keep them dead or somehow magically bring them back. **

**And I hope you don't mind, but I prefer if Sakura's and Sasuke's relationship develop slowly...so they're not gonna start dating right away and he's not going to fall in love with her very soon. Its...--according to my plan-- gonna be a LONG while before they do. I just really don't like it when they somehow suddenly fall in love within like three chapters**

**  
Hoping for at least...10 reviews for this chappie **


	8. Sex Ed

**Soo sorry I haven't updated in a long time. Dx I had a stupid virus again and I had to get the computer cleaned (I know, I was in a very poopy mood). Therefore, I lost the original of this chapter and had to rewrite it and I totally hate rewriting things cause it ends up being worst than the first time.**

**Although, your reviews made me REALLY happy (I should be so ashamed...I feed on your reviews..its the only drug that makes me content)**

**Pairing for this chapter: Sasu x Saku**

**Disclaimer: If only I did...If only..

* * *

**

**Chapter 8. Sex Ed.**

The air was filled with apprehension and whispers as the chuunin ninjas had spread the news.

"I heard the Uchiha is back," one said.

"You mean Sasuke-kun?" a girl spoke up.

"Tsk, you still refer to him as _'kun'_? He's a traitor to our village!"

"Damn, I saw him the other day training with his team and he's gotten sexier!"

Silence was brought when all heads turned to the classroom door as team 7 stepped in.

Naruto chuckled and paid no attention to the people in the room, only focusing onto his conversation with his teammate, Sasuke. "Oi, teme, I feel sick," he stated while walking up the steps.

"Maybe its from all the ramen you ate this morning dobe," Sasuke suggested. He sat down next to Sakura who held onto Sumi. Naruto sat next to her on the other side.

"Forehead!" Ino yelled out. The blond quickly ran towards the rosette. Shikamaru and Temari followed behind her. "Awe, let me see her!" Ino supported the baby's head as she grabbed the infant away. "She's so cute!"

"Ino! Don't suffocate her," Sakura warned and grabbed the baby back. Ino pouted and her husband dragged her back to their seat.

"Why did the Hokage call us here anyway?" Sasuke growled. He did not like being woken up early in the morning. He glanced at the clock that hung above the door.

_7:00 a.m._

They were at their old school, the academy, the place they went to before graduating an becoming genin. It still looked like it used to and they recognized many familiar faces. They were all people who they had once called classmates, the ones who graduated along with them. Their distinct features were somewhat the same though many had changed as did team 7.

"Sasuke-kun!" many girls (and a few boys) squealed.

Sasuke sighed. He betrayed Konoha, attacked Leaf nin, tried to kill them, worked along side with Orochimaru, was labeled as an S-ranked criminal and yet he seemed to have twice as many people shriving out his name as before.

He could hear Naruto snickering from behind.

"Shut up dobe, it's not like you could get a girl." Sasuke smirked at Naruto's expression when suddenly, Naruto gave him a bright cheery grin.

"Actually teme, I can!"

"Prove it."

Naruto froze. "Well..uh...actually, I can't at the moment..."

Sasuke smirked again. It was just like Naruto to say something that wasn't true.

"Hinata!" Sasuke's eyes widened when Naruto approached the shy girl and kissed her on the forehead. "I've been waiting for you to come! What took you so long?"

'_Naruto got a girlfriend?'_ was what was running through his thoughts and the Uchiha watched his blond friend take Hinata's hand so she could follow him to their seat.

Naruto stuck his tongue out at him.

Sakura rolled her eyes and interrupted before their fight got any worse. "Alright you two, stop arguing. Why don't you just kiss and make up now? I mean.." she joked. "This is where you guys shared your first kiss." She laughed as her two teammates turned red and ignored each other for the remaining time they were waiting for the Hokage to arrive.

* * *

The adults walked into the room and Tsuande started to write on the chalkboard.

Kakashi stepped to the center of the room and when the room was silent except for the sounds of chalk pressing on the board, he began.

"The reason for this reunion is because you are all getting older and...maturing, therefore getting married," he looked at Shikamaru and his wives. "And starting a family," he gazed towards his former student, Sakura. "Now, I believe that we should all start by reading and learning from...this!" he held his red book; the Icha Icha Paradise. "It's a new addition to the series and has **great** tips..._unfortunately_," the silver haired jounin could feel a death glare from Tsunade behind him even though her face wasn't pointed towards his. "Unfortunately...the Hokage has different plans." he stepped aside and Tsunade walked forward.

"Today, we are going to review some basic knowledge and learn about childcare. We're also going to be training so that you are capable of taking care of infants at drastic and casual times.

As expected, there were a lot of moans from the class. Sure, they were all 17 and 18– including Gai's team, they would be 19– but health class was still health class and they always act immature to these lessons.

"Now, I need a volunteer." Tsunade scanned the room. No one, not even her apprentices would raise their hand. All except one. She sighed.

"Alright, Naruto." He grinned when his named was called out.

Iruka– sitting on the side of the room along with the other teachers– chuckled and watched the fox-faced boy approach the room. _'That Naruto,'_ he thought. _'Just the same as always. I bet he doesn't even know what he's volunteering for.'_

The woman in the blond pigtails smirked and gave Naruto a piece of yellow chalk–a different color from the chalk she used to write and draw on the board.

"Label it." she simply said and smiled.

Naruto looked up at the diagram and instantly froze. "This...this...is a picture..of..of.." he stuttered.

"A penis." Tsunade finished for him and everybody broke into laughter. "Label it," she repeated the instruction again. "I want you to find the glanis penis, testis, urethra, scrotum and bladder."

Everybody burst out laughing as they watch the blond–who seemed to have only slightly matured during these past few years– struggle and turn red.

Tsunade smirked for she knew he would never accomplish it. "Fine, you can label the vagina," she joked, forcing his face to turn more crimson than ever.

"NO!" He was officially freaked out and his cerulean eyes were widened, cheeks rosy. His mouth was opened to the max as he quickly ran back up the steps, sitting in between Sakura and Hinata. As soon as he sat down, his hands covered his face, trying to hide the embarrassment.

"Alright, Sakura, you can label it," she instructed her student and the rosette stood confidently and went towards the board. When she was finished, Tsunade started to talk again.

The Hokage grabbed a ruler, pointing to the diagram every so often and explaining the functioning of both the penis and the vagina.

Everybody groaned at the _tragic_ outcome of their day.

* * *

It was noon and all were excused to eat their lunches. They say outside, laid on the grass and hung out at the usual hangouts that they went to when they were children. The academy kids all had gotten the day off that day so they would have the health classes.

Naruto chuckled slightly, almost choking on his food, panicking the Hyuuga heiress who sat next to him. In fact, all of rookie 9–including Gai's team– were sitting together in a close group, chatting at the same time.

Sakura quickly finished her lunch and excused herself from the conversation between her other kunoichi friends.

"Ino, will you mind if I ask you to watch Sumi for a bit while I go somewhere?" Sakura asked her best friend who instantly shook her head.

"No, don't worry. I can watch her." Ino squeezed onto the baby girl harder.

Sakura smiled. Ino was really fond of her daughter.

The medic thanked her and ran off. When she had arrived to the back of the academy building, she gazed up and grinned. There, was an old cherry blossom tree. The leaves were a darker shade of green than her eyes and the blossoms weren't quite in bloom yet though Sakura could still see bits and pieces of pale pink petals.

She felt serene and pulled her short hair back, clipping it so it wouldn't get in the way when the wind blew. She reminded herself to get it trimmed later since her hair was beginning to grow in the way. She preferred it chin-length short anyway.

Sakura took a few steps closer and her face looked sadden when she was really just...thinking. Thinking about all those precious memories she had stored away in the back of her head.

"So this is where you went." Sakura turned around when startled by the voice. It was Sasuke.

"Oh," was her reply. She didn't say anything else after.

"Hn," he grunted, walking up the path nearer to Sakura. His face was rather emotionless–as usual.

"I was..just looking at this," the mutter managed to escape her lips. She turned back to the sakura tree. She ran her fingers across the dark brown bark of the tree which had multiple lines on it; weapon markings. Her eyes got smaller when she smiled. Tears were almost formed but none came out.

"This," she started, "was where I first met you." _When I first liked you._

"I don't recall seeing you here."

Sakura let out a sigh and looked up through the leaves and sky. The sun's bright rays caused her eyes to squint and made her feel a bit more optimistic.

"You were only focusing on your training. We were probably no more than five years old at the time and I walked passed by. I heard something so I climbed over the fence and..." She stopped. Sakura really didn't want to sound like a stalker.

"And..?"

"I watched you train." Small pink blushes appeared and she tried to hide it by jumping up, swinging on a branch. She eyed Sasuke and giggled. "You were very adorable."

* * *

"_Huh?" The young girl watched him, tilting her head to the side, allowing her short pink hair to sway. The young Sakura took a few steps forward, climbing over the small blue fence that surrounded the area and had gotten a closer look at the ebony haired boy launching his weapons at the small cherry blossom tree._

_She frowned._

_That was __**her**__ cherry blossom tree. Her parents had planted that tree the day they gotten engaged. She remembered them saying that as long as it's still standing, not only would it be their tree but her tree as well._

_Though, the more she watched the boy, the more warmer he cheeks grew._

'_Who is he?' she thought. He didn't look familiar though considering he was at Konoha's junior academy school,– the place she was attending within a few months– he must be a citizen of the Leaf village like her._

_She watched as the beads of sweat were visible from his face and how his pretty black eyes only focused on aiming his kunais at __**her**__ tree. His hair was somewhat around the same length as her's but even from a distance, she could easily tell that it was much more healthier and silky. The boy was probably the same age as her too. He looked so determined, so..intriguing._

_Sakura never spoke up and often found herself hiding behind the bushes just watching him. She was very shy and thought that the boy might think she was weird if she were to suddenly pop out of the shrubs._

"_I often find you here," a voice startled Sakura and she turned around, emerald eyes looking at the mysterious person that stood behind her._

"_Eh..ehh.." She fiddled with her thumbs and her eyes hid behind her bangs. Sakura felt nervous and frightened by the older boy. She looked back up and brushed her hair aside behind her ear. She noticed something as she studied his appearance carefully. He resembled the boy she had been watching for the past few days._

_He grinned, showing small wrinkle lines on his cheeks. "Don't worry, I won't hurt you." He kneeled down next to her and watched his brother along with Sakura._

"_He's really determined, isn't he?" the older boy spoke again._

"_Uh huh," Sakura greed and nodded her head, continuing to look at the five year old in amazement. Then it hit her. _

"_Oh! I'm sorry" she bowed her head. "I didn't mean to bother you!"_

_She heard him chuckle. "Don't worry about it." He patted her head gently and laughed. "You can come back anytime you want...what's your name?"_

_She knew that her mom always told her to never talk to strangers but it didn't matter, right? This boy was nice and if she were in any trouble, the boy she had been watching– she believed– would save her. He did look really strong, even at a young age._

"_It's Sakura." Her voice was soft and quiet. She was still a bit shy around him._

_He smiled. "Sakura...that's a pretty name. I'm Itachi...And I'm his older brother." He pointed to the boy. "His name is Sasuke. Sasuke Uchiha."_

_She stared in awe. The boy was an Uchiha. "Sas..uke...Uchiha.."

* * *

_

Things were silent for a while. The birds were happily chirping and the cherry blossom leaves rustled in the tree.

Sakura continued to swing on the branch. She gasped when something in her wrist snapped and started to ache, causing her hands to slip. She yelped while falling down from the high branch.

He grabbed onto her waist, her head falling back onto his shoulder and his lips pressing against the back of her head.

They both froze, remaining in the awkward position.

Slowly, as Sasuke regained awareness, he let her slip away from his arms and completely let go when he heard her feet softly touch the ground.

Sakura, however, wasn't sure whether the reason for her ruby face was from the embarrassment that she had just received, being a skillful and intelligent ninja–one of the best in the village– yet easily slipping from a tree branch or the unintentional position she and Sasuke were in.

She tried to hide her face–again– from him while repetitively brushed her side bangs away, averting her eyes at random places.

"Are...you okay?" He personally didn't care much but at least it broke the silence and tension in the air. It took a while before Sakura realized he was talking to her and registered what he said into her head.

"Oh...Y..yeah. Thanks!" she stuttered, still refusing to face him. Sakura feared her face might still be red–or will turn red–again– if she were to eye him.

It was like school when they were kids since the bell had rang, signaling that lunch break was over and they had to return.

'_Saved by the bell'_ she thought, watching him walk away. Then it hit her. _'Dammit, I sit next to him!'_ She quickly shook out the memory of what had just happened. _'At least it's better than falling down and kissing him,'_ she tried to joke and walked to the front door of the building, trying to go back to that happy sensation she had before Sasuke ruined it.

* * *

When everybody was gathered into the room, Iruka had led them to a nearby training field where Tsunade and the other jounins were standing. All had serious expressions on their faces except for Gai who grinned brightly when he saw his students and their friends.

Kakashi, surprisingly, wasn't holding onto any books and Shizune held onto her pet pig, Tonton, in her arms.

Next to Kurenai was a large barrel.

They all looked inside the barrel and noticed that there were many melons of all shapes and sizes–though not very small.

Tsunade bent down, grabbing a melon from the pile.

"Every morning for the next two weeks, you will be coming here. This melon will represent your infant or any other small child you have to protect near the future," the Hokage explained. "Your senseis–all of them– will be attacking you with various kinds of weapons and it's your duty to make sure that nothing happens to them."

After she briefly explained the instructions, she gave them a beaming face and wished them good luck.

Barely any of the shinobi knew what she was talking about but when kunai and shuriken flew in from every direction, they leaped into the air and dodged the attacks.

"Each of you grab a melon!" Tsunade watched from the sides. "Think of it as a contest. If your melon gets hit, you're out."

Her pupils moved from the corner of the eyes to the center. The blond watched each of the ninjas holding on tightly to the large fruit, dodging every attack that came their way.

"Urgh!" she heard one person say. "That's not fair then. Sakura will definitely win, she already has a child and probably knows everything about childcare."

Tsunade quickly grabbed a kunai out of the green sleeves and flung it directly at him. He dodged it but it hit his fruit.

The man growled at her but kept calm knowing that she was Hokage and therefore in charge.

"First of all, never complain about who has the advantage. Second, keep your voice low. If you're planning to protect someone but are too loud, you'll obviously blow your cover and cause more danger to the baby. You're disqualified anyway so leave!"

He dropped the dented melon into the bucket,–frowning– walking to the sidelines where Shizune stood, helping Tsunade watch the chuunins and jounins– genin in Sasuke's case– spring around from branch to branch, hiding behind bushes and using jutsus of their own to protect the melon. Shizune inwardly laughed. How Tsunade came up with the idea of a melon being similar to a baby and having them train with it, she'll never know.

"Chouji, out!" Kakashi called after being able to knock Chouji off a tree, causing him to drop the melon, squishing it into small juicy pieces. The chubby man shrugged and literally sat there, eating away his crushed fruit.

Kakashi rolled his eyes and chased after another person.

"Naruto, out!" Tsunade called from the side.

"What?! Why?" Naruto complained and jumped down, only a few meters away from her.

"Your grip on the melon isn't tight enough. If an enemy were to pass by, they'd easily take it out of your hands."

The fox-faced boy frowned and went to the side along with a large group.

Eventually, after a few hours, the adults called for the remaining who managed to stay in the 'game'. They stood in a straight line, each holding onto the green fruit.

Shizune walked past by each of them, studying it carefully.

"Sakura, out!" She yelled out only to hear a large echoing of gasps.

Sakura let one hand go from the grasp and noticed a large hand mark on it. She sulked.

"Sakura, when you attack, you have to make sure that your other hand isn't holding onto the baby too tightly or you might suffocate him or her." Tsunade explained.

Shizune continued down the straight line, constantly yelling 'outs' from those who dug their nails in or had a large scratch from passing a tree branch, but only one was left standing.

"Sasuke.." Shizune muttered his name and took the watermelon away from him, studying every possible inch.

Tsunade smiled and a sigh of relief escaped her red lips. At least one of the two parents were good at handling the baby. _'Still...that baby is an Uchiha. Any possible danger towards her would be a lot more hard work for them to protect.'_ Tsunade glanced at Sakura who sat there patiently next to Naruto. _'I'm going to have to give them more training.'_

"Look's like Sasuke is the winner!" Shizune called out but before anybody managed to raise their hands to clap or walk over towards the Uchiha to congratulate, Tsunade interrupted.

"Even though Sasuke was the only one who made it out of here without harming the _baby_, all of you, including him, still need to have a lot more practice in this field. The battles you will be facing in the future to maintain the safety of this village will be a lot harder than just kunai or shuriken being thrown at you. Remember, these are children–real people. One small scratch could end their lives."

They nodded their heads in muteness.

"Team 7, with a baby already born, you will receive the most training." Naruto pouted.

"As for the rest of you, same time, same place, tomorrow. Dismissed."

* * *

It was late in the afternoon, not yet as dark since it was still late September. The skies had a mix of pink and purple with hints of orange beneath the puffy grey clouds that hovered over the side of the village–the side they were walking in.

Naruto waved goodbye to Sakura and Sasuke as he walked off in the direction of his apartment.

"Come with me," it wasn't a request, it was a demand by Sasuke.

Sakura, carrying her sleeping baby, gave a questioning look and followed him quietly only making a few clicking noises from her shoes.

They stopped at a park, not too far from Sakura's old house. She frowned when she saw the small building just over the golden horizon.

"Sasuke? What are we here for?" She asked. It was awkward being this late out with Sasuke (alone).

He then smirked and reached out his right arm, pointing to a small swing set at the playground. It was mildly moving from the breeze that was beginning to grow due to the late night.

"_That._" He looked at her. "Is where I first met you."

* * *

**Eeek, it's a bit long..yesh, I know. I was pretty much stuffing everything I remembered from the original chapter in there...**

**Happy Holidays by the way (I was sick or about half of it) --pouts--**

**Gimme drugs (I mean...cough cough..reviews)**


	9. Cleaning the House

**THANK YOU for all your reviews! WE MADE OVER A HUNDRED REVIEWS! And sorry for the long wait; I've been really busy lately.**

**Pairing: Sasu x Saku (of course)**

**Disclaimer: Sheesh, this is FanFiction, why do we need these?

* * *

****Chapter 9. Cleaning the House**

She hurriedly squinted her eyes when the sunny rays tickled her pale face. The basket she held in one hand rocked back and forth, bumping into her leg every so often as she crossed the populated streets, trying to avoid bumping into other villagers. The area was filled with soft chatters, but considering the amount of people outside, the quiet gossips' volume built up into a loud roar that frustrated Sakura. She was used to it since she is a teammate of a certain legendary loudest ninja of the village. Though it was that particular day that made everything more noisy than usual.

The part of the village was overpopulated, not to mention that it was late September and everybody tried to sell and buy the merchandise and crops before the cold temperature visited them.

She ran into a few people but secured the basket with her arms.

'_To think Naruto actually came up with the idea of watching Sumi just to impress Hinata,'_ Sakura mused inwardly. She giggled at the thought of 'uncle' Naruto changing her baby girl's diapers. Luckily though, Hinata and Neji gave her confidence that her daughter would be fine with Naruto as long as they were watching over the blond.

A deep breath slipped passed her lips and Sakura gazed from side to side, wondering where the Uchiha estate was. She remembered visiting there once though her memory was fuzzy.

"Excuse me?" she asked a passing man.

He turned and faced the young woman.

"I'm looking for the Uchiha estate. Do you happen to know where it is?" Sakura made sure she was polite. Ever since training under the Godaime, the blond woman somewhat rubbed off her temper and attitude towards the student.

He chuckled slightly. "It's right there." He pointed towards a large fencing directly behind Sakura.

Her eyes widened. "That whole area is the...?!" she spoke almost too loudly.

The man laughed again, waving at the crimson faced shinobi.

* * *

"Hello?" Sakura continuously knocked onto the front gates. It was brown and a bit moldy since it had been almost a decade since someone had used it. The knobs were nearly falling off as well. 

It didn't scare her though. Despite the apprehension in the air, Sakura felt that it was reasonable considering what happened and how long ago since it was used. Besides, there were even times in the hospital when she'd have to examine things that were much more disgusting.

The door swung open before she could knock it again, revealing a grumpy Sasuke. It wasn't as clear that Sasuke was tired. Unlike Sakura, he didn't have bags under his eyes and his hair stayed the same as it was when he fell asleep. The only visible clue to his sleepiness was the half closed eyea and the pajamas.

"What?" He spat.

It was still early in the morning, barely even seven yet though the sun had already peaked over the horizon.

She rolled her eyes. It seems none of the men in her team liked waking up at an early hour. Sakura held out the basket.

"I made some food earlier but had lots leftover, so I was wondering if you want it. I also made sure to pack some tomatoes too."

Yawning, the Uchiha rudely grabbed the basket from her, only giving her a grunt as a thank you.

She glanced over his shoulder.

The emerald eyes widened as it scanned the porch of his house– also known as a mansion. The wooded deck had piles of clothes, empty food containers and a mattress on the side where a pillow and blanket were scattered.

"Why is all your stuff out here?" she blurted out and invited herself into the home, asking for a glare from Sasuke.

"Hn," he didn't answer the question.

Sakura hopped over the steps and opened one of the room's doors. The inside was dusty, messy and moldy. The layers of dust was thick enough for rodents to be living underneath and the air was disgusting, almost causing the medic to vomit.

The rosette scanned the abandoned room–_'Almost a month he's been living here!'_ running through her head– and even though she's an expert, gone through every medical field there was, even analyzing half decomposed and rotting bodies, _nothing_ compared to the pollution there.

She rolled her sleeves up and with confidence, she turned around to the man and smirked. "Okay, you can dust and I'll wash!"

"Why should I listen t–

She cracked her knuckles. "Now, Uchiha!"

A voice ran through Sasuke's head. It was Naruto and his warning he gave to Sasuke a while back: _"Whenever Sakura cracks her knuckles and calls you by your last name, you BETTER do what she says," the shivering vessel told Sasuke._

Sasuke didn't even want to know what would happen if he were to go against that warning. Instead, he turned around and got every cleaning supply he owned.

* * *

Sakura was strict. Sasuke knew that over the years her confidence had grown as well as everything else, but he never knew she'd be _that_ strict. Especially to him! 

He turned and faced towards the rosette, busy speeding away at scrubbing the walls and stressing over a stain.

"It's okay. I don't think you can wash it off," he told her.

She didn't reply like he expected her to. Instead, Sakura went on to the other side of the wall and started washing there.

Sasuke reminded himself to not expect much talking from her as Sakura did change. He set his eyes on her, the hardworking girl.

Even cleaning, Sakura always seemed so positive.

* * *

"Yay! We're done with this room!" Sakura finally broke the silence. 

The two left the living room with only a few rooms left for that day.

Their–or rather, Sakura's– goal was to clean everything up in that corridor which also included Sasuke's room so he would have somewhere to sleep later that night.

Sasuke picked up the pails of water and headed off to his bedroom. It had been a while since he's been in there, even if the Hokage had forced him to live back at his old home, he never bothered looking inside the house. Though now, it wasn't as disturbing and haunting as he anticipated.

"Oh my God!" Sasuke glanced over to his teammate who held a picture frame.

"Sasuke! You look so adorable!" She showed him a picture of him when he was young, smiling happily.

With glee, Sakura squealed. Never had she seen the Uchiha look so happy. He almost looked like another version of Naruto in the photo. Reality interrupted her moment and she realized that Sasuke will probably never grin like that again.

She carefully placed the dusty frame down on the desk and explored the room. For years when she was younger, she had wished to wake up every morning in this exact room. She inwardly laughed now that she looked at the condition of the place. If everything was left the way it was when Sasuke moved out, then she can only assume that he was a slob just by looking at the pile of clothes on the floor.

Sasuke seemed to read her mind as he quickly approach the pile and shove them into a laundry basket, receiving a smirk from her.

The hours quickly passed and the two eventually forgot about lunch or any other necessities.

"–so Neji and Tenten aredating but really, they're not actually doing anything special...at least not in public, I think." It was just one question. One question that Sasuke asked and it triggered Saukra's chatterbox that the Uchiha assumed was gone. She started explaining what had happened in the past years and what everybody's like now.

"As for Naruto, he's still working really hard to become Hokage though no one really knows how he and Hinata got together. It was just one day when we all saw those two together at the ramen stand laughing and blushing. Oh! And Kakashi only lets me see under his mask whenever he's seriously injured at the hospital, so if you want, I'll see if I can sneak a picture. Besides, Naruto's been begging me to take one anyway." Sakura smiled happily and continued to do her cleaning. The room was already half done, sparkling and suitable for sleeping in.

Sasuke–again– didn't say anything and emptied out his closet.

"Gah!" Sasuke screamed and Sakura laughed. She didn't know what caused him to scream like that, but it was hilarious in her opinion.

"What's wrong, Sasuke?" She turned around and her eyes widened.

"KYA!!!Get it out, get it out!" She screamed, more frantically than Sasuke did as she jumped on top of the desk, pointing to the clan full of rats inside his closet.

"No, I'm not touching those things!" Sasuke argued and backed up away from the rats that were scurrying towards him.

Eventually, the minutes passed by and the room became more and more full of rodents. No one could even see the floor!

Sasuke was on top of the desk next to Sakura who took out a kunai.

"Dammit, Sakura! I don't want rodent blood on my floors!"

She glared at him. "Well then, Mister I'm-such-a-genius, how do you expect to get rid of them?"

Sasuke stood there. The squeaks from the hundreds (and possibly thousands) of rats were irritating his thoughts and it seemed some were even climbing onto the chairs.

"Sasuke! They're climbing onto the desk!" Sakura grabbed a few books from on top of the desk and knocked the rats off the table. The more she knocked off though, the more climbed upwards.

"Look! They're even gnawing through the chairs! They're making a hole!" Sakura exclaimed. She wondered what the rest of his house would be like and what kind of creatures would be living in it. Just the thought of it and the sight of the room now gave her more shivers than she already had.

"That's it!" Sasuke finally said. "There's a hole behind the dresser! I used to sneak out through there all the time! We can use it to get out of the room and possibly get some rat poison."

He leaped to another chair in the corner and tried to budge the large cabinet. It budged, but Sasuke made sure he it wouldn't fall down squishing the rats. Its just as he said. He didn't want any animal blood stains on his floor.

At last, the dresser was fully moved, revealing a large cracked hole in the wall.

Sasuke glanced over to the other wall and luckily, the door was closed so all the rats were trapped in that room.

"We have to leave before the rats manage to escape!" Sasuke forced chakra into his feet and Sakura copied.

Together, they walked on the side of the wall so that they could go through the hole.

Sakura made note to cover that gap later as she was reunited with fresh air. She turned to Sasuke who was sealing the hole with a large wooden board.

He smirked. "We need to get the rat poison now."

* * *

Sakura finally sighed of relief as they were finally finishing clearing the dead rats. The rubber gloves were irritating her skin and the stench was really overpowering. Things were silent again and she didn't want to disrupt it with her voice, afraid that she might annoy Sasuke. 

She grinned however, knowing that he rarely calls her annoying now unlike when they were younger.

By the time they had finished with Sasuke's room, the sun was already setting and they stopped to eat.

"Oh, there's still one more room left in this hallway. I think we can finish this one before it gets too late." Sakura brightly said and Sasuke twitched.

"No, Sakura. Thank you but it's okay. I can clean that room myself. You should go home now."

"No, really, Sasuke. I don't mind staying a while more."

Again, Sasuke cringed and insisted on the young woman to go home.

"Alright, alright. Then can I have that basket back? I'm going to need it cause I promised Ino I'd bring some stuff over to her house tomorrow."

Sasuke rolled his eyes and nodded. He quickly turned around and left to the other room to get Sakura's belongings.

'_Geeze,_ _I wonder why Sasuke's so touchy about that room...'_ Quietly, Sakura sneaked over to that last room and slid the door opened.

Goose bumps formed along her arms and the hairs on the back of her neck stood. The emerald eyes widened and her jaw started to shake. Sakura couldn't believe her eyes. The sight frightened her and the fingers holding on the edge of the door gripped tighter.

"Oh..my–

"What are you doing?"Sasuke's sudden voice made Sakura jump and shriek.

When she calmed down, she apologetically glimpsed back at the Uchiha who was frowning.

Sasuke didn't say anything and his hands folded into a fist. Taking a deep breath, he walked past Sakura and without looking inside the room, he slammed it shut. He shoved the basket that he had brought into Sakura's arms and stomped off.

"I'm sorry..." Sakura muttered before she exited the estate. The only vision in her mind though was of that room. She tried to shake it out but the image repetitively.

* * *

Sakura picked her daughter up from Naruto. Apparently, it was mostly Neji and Hinata who were babysitting both Naruto and the baby. 

When Sakura got into her apartment room, she just pictured the moment at Sasuke's house again.

'_No wonder Sasuke was so quirked up about that room,'_ she thought depressingly.

The blood stains on the walls and floor along with shattered glass scattered everywhere. Sakura was even scared to what it might've looked like in Sasuke's eyes having seen that and the corpses of his dead parents when he was only a child!

Suddenly, the baby woke up and Sakura got up from her bed; carrying the infant and rocking her back and forth.

* * *

It was late and Sasuke tried to go to sleep in his newly cleaned room but the man was troubled, continuously rolling back and forth. He let a sigh out and his head started to hurt. Was he too hard on Sakura? Still, it was the fact that she didn't listen to him and dared to open _that_ room. Just the thought of it made him feel haunted again, but unlike other people, Uchiha's don't tremble and hide under their blanket. 

--

--

--

As hours rolled by, Sasuke still was unable to sleep. He snapped his eyelids shut and as tired as he was, all he could ever think about was Sakura opening the door to that room. Finally, he forced himself back up and grabbed onto some clothes nearby, changing into them.

Sasuke looked over to a clock. It was three in the morning, but it didn't matter. He needed to go for a walk.

* * *

"Da...da...da..." Sakura hummed her baby to sleep. Her arms were exhausted after an entire's day work. Today was her break and she thought she would finally be able to get a good night's rest, but when she saw Sasuke's house's condition, she had to clean it up. 

_Knock, knock._

"Come in," Sakura quietly said trying not to disturb the finally sleeping baby.

The door slowly opened, revealing Sasuke with his hands in his pockets and emotionless face. His eyes didn't focus onto Sakura but rather the baby in her arms.

"You're still not asleep?" he asked her.

She laughed gently. "I could ask the same to you, but yes." Sakura turned to the baby. "She wouldn't sleep. So, what's up?"

Sasuke didn't respond to that statement but walked further into the apartment. In his mind, he wondered what to say to the pink haired female as eyes rolled back and forth causing him to have a strange expression.

"I..." Sasuke started, "was wondering if you could...help me clean up _that_ _room_?" he emphasized the last part.

Sakura stared at him blankly.

"–whenever you're not busy, of course." Sasuke finished by looking away and noticed that the clock nearby showed that it was almost four in the morning.

He clearly knew that there wasn't any way that he would tell her that he couldn't sleep because of it.

He wanted her to answer at that moment though, but she just stood there. Sasuke wondered what was taking her so long to decide whether she wanted to help him or not.

"And I'm sorry for snapping at you earlier for opening the door," Sasuke added awkwardly.

Sakura tried to suppress a giggle and nodded.

"I can help younow if you want, Sasuke."

Sasuke nodded.

* * *

Around 4:30 in the morning, they had finally arrived at the Uchiha mansion. 

Sakura had the baby sleeping peacefully in a bassinet and Sasuke pointed the way to where the rooms were.

"Uh, I actually have something for her." Sasuke went into his room and Sakura followed, wondering what he meant.

The craftsmanship was beautiful and Sakura stared at the pretty wooden crib that stood before her. There were small Uchiha fan symbols along the sides, carefully painted and the pillows had adorable silk cases with ribbons on the corners and the blanket was the same color–though a darker shade; a soft green cotton sheet.

"This was my old crib that my mother kept. I changed the old sheets and pillows though." Sasuke watched the gleeful Sakura who slowly picked the baby up from the bassinet and placed her in the crib. She then turned to Sasuke.

"Alright! Let's start cleaning!"

Within Sasuke's mind, he still questioned how Sakura had so much energy and excitement at that certain time of day.

* * *

The room's conditioned remained the way it was in Sakura's memory and the apprehensiveness feeling she was receiving from Sasuke didn't help either. Whether it was to reassure her or him, Sakura didn't know, but she was constantly turning back to the Uchiha, watching every slightest facial expression he made with worriment. 

Soon, they brought out the pails of water and sponges along with several mops and brooms. Only the sound of the two scrubbing hard against the blood stained walls could be heard and neither dared to break that lull moment.

The blood stains, however, were difficult to remove and by sunrise, the exhausted pair had finished, leaving only small patches of crimson spots on the wooden floor.

"Aa...thank you," Sasuke muttered sleepily, slowly falling back on one side of the couch with his eyes closed.

Sakura murmured something like a 'your welcome' but her tuckered out voice wasn't clear as she was falling asleep on the other side of the living room couch.

The two slept peacefully for the rest of the day.

* * *

**That was pretty much a strictly Sakura and Sasuke chapter. Not as much fluff as I normally do. XP And about the whole rat thing, yeah, we did a movie assignmet in French class and we watched Ratatouille. I felt like adding a few (thousand) dozen rats in this chapter because of that.**

**Is it just me or does my writing style change each chapter? I dunno, but if it is, then I think its due to my mood. **

**Review please.**


	10. Common Hobby

**Again, I will warn you that my writing style changes each chapter which means theres a huge possibility that the characters won't be the same throughout. Anyway, my summatives for my classes are due soon which means I won't be on much either. I'll see if I can ditch work and type up the next chapter like I did this.**

**Thank you to all my reviewers.**

**Pairing: Sasu and Saku  
Warning: Fluffed up and added some Cheese Whiz so its extra cheesy  
Disc: Unless 5 dollars and 62 cents can cover for it, I don't own Naruto...actually I lost 5 cents by the time I finished writing this somewhere under my bed so 5 dollars and 57 cents**

**Chapter 10. Common Hobby **

"Where is Sakura going?" Sasuke questioned the Hokage who averted her eyes to meet his and smiled.

"Well...She's getting ready for a mission...Isn't that obvious?" She started to shuffle her papers around, pretending to do her duties and heard Sasuke cringe. Again, she smiled.

"What? You worried cause she's going to be seeing the Harunos?"

His cheeks had a slight pink tint to it when the blond woman said that and he gritted his teeth. Suddenly, an idea popped into his mind and he slammed the edge of the wooden desk. "I have a request to join this team."

Tsunade chuckled. "Sasuke...you are still on probation and you aren't allowed to go on any missions–you know that. Why do you think I would just let you go. I mean, it's even outside the village!"

Sasuke smirked. He was _so_ not losing this argument. "Because you think of Sakura as your own daughter and you wouldn't want her to get hurt. Also, Neji is on the team. He's a jounin. He can be assigned to watch me."

Tsunade inwardly rolled her eyes as she stared at the teen in disbelief. Who knew he'd grown to care for her apprentice so much in such a short time (Of course, she was never going to tell anybody this. Any interruptions will obviously alter their 'relationship'). She sighed and looked off to the side.

She then grabbed out a piece of paper and scribbled a bunch of notes down, irritating Sasuke as he was very impatient and he knew that Sakura and her team were leaving any moment now.

Tsunade stamped the document and called out for Shizune who walked in at that moment.

"Do anything stupid and I'll hunt you down myself. Got it?" She told the Uchiha and then switched to the woman in the black dress.

"Take off his anklet, will you? We don't want ANBU running after him suddenly."

Afterwards, she handed the form to Sasuke and directed him to give it to Neji– the team leader– so he would know that the Uchiha had permission.

"Hn." He left.

* * *

Sakura frowned as she waited by the front gates for her team to arrive. She wasn't looking forward to this mission.

It was early October and the leaves were beginning to change colors, brightening the village even more.

There was a small town just outside of Konoha (a few hours away) and it had recently been attacked by a few rogue ninja, damaging most of the houses and injuring some people.

Unfortunately, it was also around this time when the Leaf had been short a few medics and the most reasonable choice was to send Sakura to aid them. Despite how much Tsunade didn't want her apprentice to go either, she decided to send Neji and Tenten along just in case since it was that small village where most of the Harunos had lived–as well as her _parents _who had just moved back there.

Soon afterwards, she saw two figures peaking over the horizon and waved to them.

Tenten waved back enthusiastically and they got to the meeting point.

They were all set to leave when all of a sudden, they heard someone call them and the three turned around, noticing the Uchiha along with a few ANBU escorting him.

"He's on the team too." The masked man said. With a puff of smoke, the two ANBUs left, leaving Sasuke.

The cold man handed Neji the Hokage's document and Neji frowned.

"Fine." The Hyuuga stated.

Sakura gave a questioning look and wondered why Tsunade had decided to add Sasuke to the team when she had clearly told them he wasn't allowed to go on any missions, not to mentioned that he was allowed to go anywhere near the village's boarders or leave the village itself.

Sasuke noticed her gazed and turned away, adding a grunt and not bother answering her.

* * *

About three hours had passed and the team knew that they were soon to be in that tiny town.

Tenten, who had noticed the upset Sakura, tried to cheer the rosette up.

"Don't worry, Sakura. They're not going to bother you for the entire mission, you know."

Sakura shook her head. "Thanks, Tenten, but it's just that half the town will probably know what had happened which means they'll probably be thinking the same thing as them." She didn't call them her parents nor did she say anything else after.

It inwardly pained Sasuke to hear that. He glowered at the ground during the entire time.

* * *

There were some people at the edge of the town waving at them when they got there and it was Neji who took charge with introductions as Sasuke and Sakura stood behind.

"We have a medic with us as well as a few people who can fix your houses and make sure that there aren't anymore ninja nearby."

Then people at the gate nodded and led the team in.

A few gasped as soon as they witnessed the Uchiha step in but Neji held his hand up high.

"Please don't be alarmed. He is with us and we assure you, he will not do anything..."

Albeit the message was clear, a few stepped back as they still feared the Uchiha though it didn't look like Sasuke took their expressions personally. He just stood there, secretly staring at the corner of his eyes at Sakura who had been emotionless since they had arrived.

"There's a small office a few blocks over," the man pointed through the streets and piles of rubble. "Hopefully, your medic can find it suitable to for treating patients there." A man spoke up, voice firm and confident. He smiled kindly.

Sakura nodded and walked passed them, carrying a large–very large– bag filled with supplies over one shoulder– some wondered how much was just in there and how she was capable of managing it.

The man pointed to the rest of the ninja where the most damage was caused and said that some of the people in their town could also help out.

Tenten quickly pulled out all her tools and Neji decided to scan the perimeter to see what had happened, leaving Sasuke alone.

Not many people wanted to work with him and whispered to the man in charge that they didn't want to. Of course, even though Sasuke didn't hear a word they said, he knew very well as to why they didn't want to.

"Ah," the man spoke again. "Well, I'll work with you." It was a shocking announcement to Sasuke that the kind man was willing to accompany him

"Hn," He replied.

* * *

He soon learned the man went by the name of Takashi. To the Uchiha, he looked like a man in his early forties, possibly the same age as his father if he were still alive.

The two men were chopping firewood for a few homes to be heated and some for walls to be made.

Luckily for Sasuke, the entire time, Takashi was pretty silent.

All he could really hear were the soft whispers of the few girls behind him–constantly squealing as he went shirtless and such– and the hammering noises just a few streets away from Tenten and Neji, fixing up the roofs.

He wondered what Sakura was doing–healing people, obviously,– family-wise. Had she ran into any of her relatives yet?

It was also fortunate for them that Shizune had offered to take care of Sumi for the few days they were on this mission.

"Ah, since most of the homes here are in rough condition, you and your friends might have to stay at separate houses, is that okay?" Takashi asked.

Sasuke just nodded and continued chopping. It was an easy task, but the long hours exhausted him.

"Sasuke?" he heard a feminine voice ask behind him.

He turned around and saw Sakura.

"I made you some lunch," she told him and then averted her eyes to Takashi.

Sasuke notice her mouth form a line and her eyes quickly moving away from the man.

She bowed her head and greeted him. "Mr. Haruno. How are you?"

Mr. _Haruno_? It startled Sasuke when Sakura had said that and he quickly turned to the man who just stared at her back

"Good." He didn't say anything after.

She simply smiled and handed Sasuke a small lunch box, leaving afterwards.

Sasuke sat down and opened it, using his chopsticks to eat the tomatoes first. 

"You know Sakura very well, I assume from your silence?" Takashi finally said after about ten minutes of silence.

Sasuke didn't look back at the man and nodded. It was obvious that even before the pregnancy incident that she and her dad weren't very close when it came to news or else he would've known that he was on her team for their genin days and that she had a crush on him for most of her life. 

* * *

It was later that night and the whole team were gathered around a large house. Numerous of people were already there and Sakura could only assume it was the Haruno house considering how many of them were there.

There were a group of people around her age giving her dirty looks. Those people also happened to be the ones she used to call her cousins. The rosette tried to ignore them, only to witness that their stares got more fierce–the girls' stares– when she was near the Uchiha. 

She stayed silent for the entire dinner and only Neji and Tenten talked.

The weapons mistress made sure to sit next to Sakura to make sure she was okay.

Sakura decided to get up since the uncomfortableness was secretly killing her, knowing the gazes that followed her were all from the people who thought she was a whore.

"Well...we have a room at our house and a room at my brother's house. We hope you don't mind sharing?" Takashi asked them and Neji shook his head.

"I'll go with Sakura. I'll see if she's okay." Sasuke muttered to Neji who slightly nodded.

"Tenten and I will stay here, Mr. Haruno."

The man nodded, almost relieved looking as if he did not want Sakura to stay at his house.

* * *

Sakura and Sasuke got to the small house they were going to sleep at, a teen walked out and blushed at the sight of the raven haired man.

"Welcome...Sasuke-kun." She completely ignored the medic next to him.

They all went inside.

The teen–Sakura's cousin– told them that her parents were staying at another house since a few of their rooms were wrecked, leaving only one room left.

"Sasuke, I have a spare mattress in my room. You...can sleep there..." she stammered and both Sakura and Sasuke wanted to throw up. She was just as worse as the other fan girls and Sasuke wondered whether it was in the Haruno's genes to obsess over him.

"And uh..you can sleep on the couch." She pointed over to Sakura who muttered a few curses at her breath–too little to hear.

"...I'm going to go shower." Sasuke said, leaving the two women behind.

Sakura unpacked a few clothes when her cousin suddenly spoked.

"Tch, you should learn to back off, so stay away from my Sasuke-kun, whore."

Sakura rolled her eyes and almost laughed at the statement.

"You two just met and Sasuke doesn't even know your name. Besides, he's not an item to be won over so technically, he cannot be _yours._"

Her cousin scowled and crossed her arms.

Suddenly, Sakura had a brilliant idea and smirked. "But you know...Sasuke and I have been on the same team for quite a while..."

Her cousin's face expression was very amusing to Sakura, watching her fidget and stare in disbelief.

After a bit of stammering, the other woman said, "Do remember you have that child to take care of, bitch so I suggest you go take a hike and leave Sasuke-kun alone."

Sakura frowned at the fact that she treated her baby like it wasn't human. She clenched her fist, wanting to do more damage that there was on the house already, but instead, she smiled through her gritted teeth.

"Oh, but Sasuke and my baby get along really well. He's like...a father to her...he would be a great father, actually," She partly lied and stuck her tongue out the growing furious relative.

The door suddenly opened and Sasuke came out wearing a dark blue tee and plaid pants, hair dripping wet.

Sakura noticed her cousin looking all innocent towards him and saying she'll go get extra blankets for him, causing her to giggle at the woman's stupidity.

Sasuke smirked. "Were you two ...arguing over me?"

Sakura smiled back at her baby's father. "In your dreams, Uchiha. Pestering fan girls is just a new hobby I picked up a while back."

Sasuke suppressed a laugh and smirked again. "Then I guess we're the same in a way."

"What?" Sakura questioned.

He shook his head. "Nothing."

"Well then I'm going to bed." She climbed onto the couch, putting a small blanket over her shoulders and closed her eyes.

* * *

A few moments later, Sakura felt something move and turned over, finding a body next to her.

Her eyes widened and freaked out as she saw through the darkness that Sasuke was laying next to her. She sat up, green eyes widened and pursed her lips.

Looking up, she could also see her cousin, staring there shocked at the Uchiha's actions.

Sasuke's arms suddenly pulled Sakura down next to him and a loud "Humph" could be heard, followed by her cousin stomping off to her own room.

She could feel him slightly chuckling as her head was resting on his chest and she simpered.

'_That's what he meant by the _same,' She thought before drifting off to sleep.

* * *

**I reread this a few times and I think I caught all the typos...My keyboard is a bit messed up right now so it doesn't take in all the letters I type.  
Anyway, review if you want. It encourages me to update :)**

**I know I'm a bit late but I hope you had a great Spring Break and Happy Easter!**


	11. October Tenth

**I realized that I just ended the last two chapters with those two sleeping..maybe I'm just tired? Well, here's the chapter you've all been waiting for.**

**Pairing for this chap: SasuSaku, Team7**

**Disc: ...Yeah.**

**Chapter 11. October Tenth**

* * *

It was early morning when the two woke up, shying away from each other as soon as they noticed each other's presence that close to themself.

It was the last day they were going to be in that village and Sakura was looking forward to it. For one, it would mean she was going to be away from her family and secondly, Naruto's birthday was today. Of course, she already had a present picked out from a few weeks ago.

Sakura quickly arrived to the clinic. She had done most of her job the day before so there weren't many visitors who needed medical attention.

"Huh...I wonder if Sasuke remembers Naruto's birthday," she muttered to herself.

"Naruto's what?" A voice called behind her and she turned around to find Sasuke and Neji at the counter.

"Birthday," the rosette repeated.

Neji stood there for a moment. Although he didn't have a present ready, he knew that Hinata would know what to get him in the last minute so he could just ask her. However, it was Sasuke he felt sorry for. All these years gone and he finally comes back only to forget his best friend's birthday.

Sakura gracefully stepped next to Sasuke, her face frowning. "Don't tell me you _forgot_?" She watched the Uchiha stiffen.

"I'll..think of something."

* * *

"Thank you for allowing us to stay here." Neji bowed down to the villagers and the others waved goodbye to them.

"No, no, thank _you_ for helping all of us in our time of need," one of them had said.

Sakura let out a deep breath as they were out of sight from that town. No one could ever feel the satisfaction she was feeling to leave. The kunoichi had not even bothered to glance at the faces of those people. She merely kept her head down most of the time–away from her family, mostly.

Of course, she had tried to stay silent most of the trip–trying to avoid any comments from her teammates and especially their pitied looks (how she hated them). However, when she was supposed to speak, she obviously joined into the conversation but made sure she lead them so far away, there wasn't the slightest chance of it being remotely similar to anything about that mission.

"Sakura."

She adult girl froze at the sound of her name being called out by Tenten.

"What did you get for Naruto anyway?"

Inwardly, she melted. Her stiff self wasn't as stiff as before. She smiled back at the weapons mistress and answered, "There were some scrolls at the Hokage's office that Tsunade said she didn't need and I figured he would be the one who wants to learn new techniques the most."

The two females looked back at their teammates.

Sakura glared at Sasuke. "Do you know how depressed Naruto is going to be, knowing his _closest_," she emphasized the previous word, "friend did _not_–

Sasuke stared back at her with his frozen face. He hated it when people emphasized their words just to try to make him feel guilty

–buy him a present?"

He didn't reply.

* * *

"Happy Birthday Naruto!" Sakura's cheery voice surprised the blond who was eating at his favourite ramen stand.

"Awe, thanks Sakura!" Naruto chuckled, showing his bright grin. Soon afterwards, Sakura dragged Sasuke away.

"What are you going to do?" She hissed in his ear. "The party is in a few hours."

Sasuke looked at her. "Okay, first, where is the party? His apartment is freaking tiny. And secondly, I said _I'll come up with something_." The Uchiha walked off, leaving Sakura to turn around to go pick up her baby from Shizune.

Sasuke stared at the dirt road, kicking a small pebble– he always wondered why kicking pebbles was always fun to him– and glanced by at the stores he was passing by. The display windows didn't really help, they were mostly cheap items or things he knew Naruto wouldn't like (mostly stuff he wouldn't like).

'_Dammit,'_ he cursed.

* * *

It was late and Sasuke headed home from training, planning to get ready to go to Naruto's house when he realized his house was broken in by someone–or, as he noticed the number of shoes at his doorway, some _people_.

"Sakura! What the hell is going on here?" he yelled as soon as he saw the strawberry head.

"Ohh, right! I was supposed to tell you that I told Naruto that you told me to tell him that you lent his apartment for him for his birthday..." Sakura watched Sasuke's expression. "Oh no, don't worry. Tsunade told me to tell you so you don't have to remind me to not get drunk...cause I'm not...yeah."

"Where's Sumi?" Sasuke asked.

Sakura looked around. "I dunno..." she said carelessly.

"What?"

Sakura laughed and stood up tall, stopping herself from swaying back and forth. "Geeze, I'm a responsible mother, Sasuke. Sumi is with Ino and I am for sure, not drunk. I didn't think you'd take it so seriously." She smiled at him and grabbed his arm towards Naruto. "Go tell him Happy Birthday."

"Hn." He said as Sakura walked off to get her baby.

Sasuke made his way through the huge crowd (was _everybody_ here?) and tapped Naruto on the shoulder. "Happy Birthday, dobe."

"Hey Sasuke-teme! Thanks...Oh and thank you for lending me your mansion. You don't know how hard it was last year to try to fit everybody in my apartment..." he chuckled.

"PRESENT TIME!" Someone in the back yelled and Naruto cheered, rushing over to the crowd and started opening gifts.

Sakura, noticing this, stepped over to the Uchiha with the infant in her arms. "_Please_ tell me you got him a gift of some sort."

He frowned. "Well, I _did_ lend him my house for the night, which by the way, you're helping me clean again."

This time, it was Sakura who had the upside down smile plastered on her face.

"–THANKS HINATA!" They could hear Naruto hurriedly opening his presents. Everybody watched as he planted a kiss on the shy girl and laughed when she turned a bright ruby.

Soon, Naruto had opened all the presents and was happy as ever. Sakura noticed everybody turning towards her. Actually, they weren't facing at _her_, really, they were looking at the man next to her, all wondering if Sasuke was going to give anything to the birthday boy–adult considering he turned eighteen that day.

Naruto, sensing the problem smiled. "Nah, Sasuke being here is enough, right teme?"

"Uh...Actually I got you a present...I just didn't have time to wrap it."

Sakura quickly turned to Sasuke who went over to his desk and grabbed something out of the drawer. She was excited, wondering what he could've gotten Naruto in such a short notice.

"Uh...teme, there's no picture in this frame," Naruto muttered when Sasuke handed him the picture frame.

"That's because you have the photo. It's a new frame for Team 7's photo that you still have."

Naruto's cerulean eyes widened and he placed a hand on Sasuke's shoulder.

"Teme..." Naruto had his head down, thinking of something to say. Suddenly, his head perked up and his eyes were watery. "This...is the best gift ever..." And then he pulled the Uchiha into an awkward hug, causing Sakura to tear up and their sensei to watch in awe.

"Alright, alright, just let go of me."

Naruto didn't. "NO, I mean it! I mean...you remembered my birthday, you lent me your mansion for the party and now _this_! You're the best!"

Sasuke eventually stopped trying to get out of Naruto's arms and stood there. Technically, he only did one out of the three things Naruto had said he did, but it's not like he's going to know.

* * *

"Bye, Naruto. Happy Birthday!" Sakura had yelled as she left early to put her baby to sleep– really glad that Tsunade and the other adults had not brought any alcohol to this party.

"I'll walk you home."

She turned around to find Sasuke putting his shoes on.

"Why not stay here and party with the others?"

Sasuke gave her a face. "Do you know how loud they've gotten since they had cake? My head hurts just thinking about it."

Sakura giggled and started walking home.

"Oh right, if Hinata's father happens to ask you where Hinata was tonight, tell him she was with me. He still doesn't know that those two are together yet."

Sasuke rose his eyebrow. "He doesn't know?"

Sakura shook her head. "Of course not. He's very strict with Hinata and who she dates and is against Naruto and her in every way. You should've seen the look on his face when he caught her at his last birthday party, it was not pretty."

Things were silent after that and the only thing that could be heard was the crickets chirping. Sasuke had his hands in his pocket and stopped when they arrived at her apartment.

The rosette stopped and looked into Sasuke's eyes. "I'm really happy today, Sasuke, seeing what you did and all."

"Aa."

Her cheeks flushed when Sasuke leaned in closer. Sakura's heartbeats were out of control, hands getting all sweaty as Sasuke leaned in closer and closer.

She closed her eyes and secretly trembled.

She opened them when she realized he just kissed his child's forehead before he turned around and left. Sakura quickly rushed into her apartment and put the baby down, crashing onto the couch and touching her cheeks.

Her heartbeats were still irregular and she wondered if her face was still blushing.

* * *

**Yeah, I'm SO sorry for the late updates..but I'm pretty sure I did well on my exams :) and final assessments. Thank you so much for**

**1. The reviews, yes, I was like "Whoa, three months with no updates and they still read it!"**

**2. The encouragements from my loyal readers (LOVE you guys!)**

**3. Waiting.**

**I will try to update again..next week? I dunno, now that its summer, I'm trying to update more often and stop my habit of leaving it there.**

**Please review and thank you for reading.**

* * *

To all my reviewers and readers, June 24th is my birthday and so I would like to dedicate a oneshot called "Cupcakes for the Strawberry Shortcake" to you all.


	12. Time Alone Together

**I just realized...I made Sakura bring a two month old baby to a party last chapter. Oppsies, I guess she isn't that good of a mother then... So, I researched my butt off to see what two month olds do. Yeah, they don't do much. I guess I'll have to wait a few more chapters before the baby actually does something.  
**

**Just so you know, my birthday was on the 24****th**** (a few days ago) and so I dedicate a oneshot called "Cupcakes for the Strawberry Shortcake" to all my readers and reviewers (You!). **

**So I guess there are **_**some**_** fight scenes in this fic. I'm not very good at describing them, so don't expect a whole lot of details and action. They will come every now and then though.**

**Pairing for this chapter: SasuSaku, NaruHina**

**Disclaimer: ...Oh, how I wish it was so.  
**

**Chapter 12. Time Alone Together**

* * *

"Thank you so much!" The blond yelled, dragging the shy girl out the door.

The older blond–Tsunade– smiled, slightly laughing.

It was the day after Naruto's birthday and of course, Naruto wanted to have some alone time with Hinata without having to bring her back at the appropriate time so her father wouldn't notice anything. After many hours of begging, Tsunade finally let him and Hinata leave for a "mission" for the entire day (she didn't trust them to be together over night alone).

"Shizune!" Tsunade called out. "Inform Hyuuga Hiashi that his daughter had to go on a sudden _mission_ and won't be back until later tonight." Tsunade gave a sly smile, wondering if she has been spoiling Naruto too much recently.

* * *

Sasuke knocked on the door, wondering what could be so urgent that Sakura had to call him over for. His hands went back into his pockets afterwards while hearing the steps of Sakura approaching the door.

"Sasuke! Come, come!" The petit woman dragged him into her apartment and towards the baby girl.

Said infant was laying in her crib, eyes wandering at the two figures hovering above her.

Sasuke stared back at his child. "So...what did you want to show me?"

Sakura smiled. "Sumi laughed!"

Sasuke stood there, emotionless. He was puzzled why a child laughing was that special. After all, wasn't it pretty common for children–even infants– to laugh? His charcoal colored eyes averted from Sakura to the baby who was still watching back at them.

The rosette, sensing this said, "It was her _first_ laugh."

Sasuke, again, still didn't know what was so exciting about it. It wasn't as important as teething or their first time walking, so he didn't see why Sakura was making such a big deal out of it.

Suddenly, the phone rang.

"I'll get it. In the meantime, watch her and try to make her laugh. It's beautiful!" Sakura left the living room to picked the phone while Sasuke stood there.

* * *

They were on the dirt pathway, a road off of the main one that normally lead to other places.

Hinata was surely nervous, considering it was the first time she was officially alone with Naruto and the fact that she wasn't familiar with the place.

It was like Naruto to decide to take a shortcut to some _magical_ place–or so he called it– while being as excited as he was.

"Ah, don't worry Hinata! I've taken this road many times before on missions. It's perfectly fine and we're not going to get lost 'cause I know the way." He chuckled.

Suddenly, the two stopped walking, quickly moving their eyes back and forth, scanning the area.

"Someone's nearby." Hinata whispered.

Naruto nodded, slowly reaching his hand into the holster, glad that he had brought it with him, and grabbing a kunai, but didn't pull it out yet.

Hinata was in position, about to use the Byakugan.

They both turned to their left, hearing a small snickering behind the bushes.

"Who's there?" Naruto yelled out.

Another laugh–a different person– on their right. A few kunais flew into the air, as Hinata and Naruto quickly jumped to dodge both.

It was harder to hear where the two other ninjas were. Their current location was near a waterfall and the sounds of water rushing down was muffling the two people who were attacking them.

"Show yourselves!" Naruto yelled again and two figures quickly jumped into the area where visible.

By now, Hinata had already activated her Byakugan and the veins were shown under the strands of her violet-black hair.

The two men snickered again.

"Well, well, well," one of them had said. "We finally get to go hunting, Sho." The man licked his lips and took out a long sword.

The larger man–Sho, or so the other man called him– grinned evilly and looked back and forth between Naruto– who suddenly jumped in front of Hinata– and the girl next to him. "Aiba...let me take care of the boy, he looks the most fun."

And within a few seconds, the two charged at Naruto and Hinata, forcing the couple to break apart from their closeness and separate.

* * *

"Sorry it took so long Sasuke, I– " Sakura stopped as soon as she saw the Uchiha.

He had his lazy eyes shown with a small frown, gently rocking the baby who's face looked like she was about to cry.

"She started to weep as soon as you left the room," Sasuke muttered.

"Oh," Sakura gently smiled. She remembered many images of the men in Konoha, as well as each of their face expressions when taking care of their child. After all, she has been working at the hospital for a long time. Comparing them to Sasuke, they were the same. They had the face of a kind and gentle father. Although...Sasuke looked more terrified when it came to crying babies.

* * *

Naruto inwardly cursed. The man he was fighting was incredibly powerful, but he wasn't about to give up.

Both were exhausted already as they were losing a tremendous amount of blood from the wounds they had inflicted on each other. However, Naruto was easily distracted. He often looked back to see how Hinata was doing.

Despite her being capable of handling herself, the blond couldn't help but worry over her. She– he noticed– had equally the amount of wounds her opponent did and didn't seem to be as tired as Naruto was.

It was that moment when Aiba had slashed across Hinata's arms with his sword and blood was splattered everywhere.

Hinata fell onto the ground near a cliff of the waterfall.

It was a rather steep– sosteep that there was nothing but pitch black when looking down– cliff and Naruto was worried that she could fall.

"Hinata!" Naruto quickly ran towards the pale girl.

"You should stop worrying about others, boy!" Sho had yelled, flinging many weapons at him.

Naruto let out a gasp as there was a sharp stinging feeling on his back. He wasn't sure if the liquid on his back was his blood or the mist from the waterfalls, but he still tried to make his way to Hinata.

He stood in front of Hinata who got up, covered in more blood than Naruto was. The blond quickly made a clone and formed a spiral on the palm of his hand.

Hinata, in the mean time, quickly hit the chakra points of both of the men–who were distracted by Naruto's large amount of chakra– with her one good arm. She then jumped out of the way when they struggled to use their chakra.

"Rasengan!" He called out.

Naruto, then hurled his attack at both of them and finally, they were both down.

The couple panted, but smiled at each other.

Naruto was in a more worse condition than Hinata though, considering the wounds on his back were fairly deep.

Hinata supported him and decided that they should try to head back for Konoha before either of them loses too much blood.

Naruto turned to his side, gazing at Hinata's face and chuckled again, until..

"Hinata, watch out!" He quickly pushed the girl aside as Aiba, covered in blood, quickly charged at Naruto, pushing them both off the steep cliff.

"NARUTO!"

* * *

Sasuke was holding onto a small toy that jingled each time it was squeezed by Sumi's face when he heard the tiny little giggle. "She's laughing!"

Sakura laughed along too, hearing the sound of Sasuke's surprised voice.

Sasuke, being grumpy, had tried to make the girl laugh, still complaining to Sakura that it wasn't a big deal and that he could do it too. Well, hours later, he finally succeeded.

"Yeah, isn't it beautiful?" Sakura watched as Sasuke slightly nod.

The kunoichi finally got up from the couch, and headed for the kitchen.

"Do you mind if you watch her for the rest of the afternoon? I have to bake a few batches of cookies for some sick kids at the hospital."

"No, I don't mind," Sasuke replied, moving the toy in front of the infant again.

"Do you want some? I know you don't like sweets, but these kinds aren't actually that sweet." Sakura took a few ingredients out of her cupboard.

Sasuke, still busy with playing with the infant, shook his head.

"No, but you should make some for Naruto. He'll like them."

* * *

**Hmm, I think only one person guessed right when I asked you guys to guess who I was going to kill off.**

**Yeah, Naruto. Don't worry, it's going to get a lot better (I promise) in the next few chapters if you're **_**that**_** depressed about Naruto.**

**About the names of the two villains, I couldn't think of any names so I randomly wikipedia the band called "Arashi" and stole their names. Teehee.**

**Anyway, review and I'll see if I can update soon.**


	13. Until the Rain Stops

**Yeah, so it's the summer. I'm updating every like 3 or 4 days now. Isn't that what you always wanted? Yup, I'm determined to get at last half way through this fic by the end of summer (Yeah...very long fic, this is...). I just have many many ideas for Sasuke and Sakura before I can officially end the story. I even have this document with everything planned out and such. It'll be a bummer if I die or get into an accident and you never get to know what happens though...sigh..**

**Well, thanks for reviewing last chapter I really appreciated it.**

**Pairing: SasuSaku, NaruHina, some love for Naruto.**

**Disclaimer: Okay, I lost a few dollars, but I gained 20 dollars for my birthday. So that's like.. Twenty-one dollars and forty cents right? Urgh, still not enough to own Naruto.**

**Chapter 13. Until the Rain Stops**

* * *

"Inuzuka Kiba, Hyuuga Neji and Sakura." Tsunade looked at the four–Akamaru being the forth– who stood in front of her desk. "I've called you here on an urgent mission to track down and find two of your fellow ninjas. Originally, I had let Uzumaki Naruto and Hyuuga Hinata outside of the village for one day only. They've been gone for three."

Her hazel eyes looked across the room, watching the faces.

"I know that that's probably normal for Naruto. However, Hinata is a responsible girl. If they were to be out later, she would've contacted us by now to let us know. Neji, you'll be the team leader. You may leave as soon as possible and bring them back as soon as you find them."

The three nodded (a bark from Akamaru), quickly disappearing before Tsunade's eyes.

The blond rested her head against her palm, looking outside the window at the cloudy skies. "Let's just hope it's not what I think it is..." she mumbled.

* * *

The violet-black haired girl had one arm swinging over the cliff. It hadn't occurred to her that in the position she was laying in, her cheeks were resting on pebbles and mud. The rest of her body, however, was covered in blood–both her's and the man she had loved– along with water from the mist of the waterfalls.

Her pupils were a lighter shade than usual, but the skin under her eyes seemed to have been growing darker by the minute– a state of shock.

"Naruto..." Hinata muttered, tears still falling down her cheeks. She had been repeating his name for the past many hours.

_Flashback_

"_Hinata, watch out!" He quickly pushed the girl aside as Aiba, covered in blood, quickly charged at Naruto, pushing them both off the steep cliff._

_Hinata quickly launched herself towards the edge, grabbing onto the Kyuubi vessel's arm with both of hers'. She clenched her teeth, preventing herself from screaming from the pain she was feeling._

_Naruto wasn't light and her arm wasn't healed. The wound had dried off, but after quickly using it and landing on the hard ground, it had begun to bleed again. The crimson liquid was flowing off of hers and onto Naruto's arm._

_Suddenly, a few rocks fell–some hitting Naruto's face– and Hinata slipped a little._

"_Dammit, Hinata! Let_ _go or else you'll fall too!" Naruto looked up at her worried face (already covered in tears)._

"_No!" She screamed her loudest, surprising the blond. "I'm not going to let go. I'm __**not**__ going to let go."_

_Again, the cliff began to crack and Naruto could feel himself being dragged down lower and lower along with Hinata._

"_Let. Go." Naruto yelled back. He quickly looked around, searching for something to hold onto. The cliffs were too slippery from the mist, even his feet couldn't hold onto them with the small amount of chakra he had without slipping._

_His blue eyes saddened. With his other arm, he reached into his pocket._

"_Hinata..I..I have something to give you before I d–_

"_Shut up. Shut up, shut up!"_

_Naruto's face looked shocked. He had never ever heard Hinata tell someone to 'shut up', let alone to be quiet._

"_Don't you dare say it, Naruto." Her face, covered in more tears as their hands started to slip a little more. "You always...you always talked about being Hokage– that you'll never give up! So don't give up. We have to try our best and try to get you back up here."_

_Naruto smiled as the sun peaked through the clouds, hitting his blue eyes, making them sparkle. _

"_You're right Hinata. I'm never going to give..._

_Their hands slipped._

"_...Up"_

"_NARUTO!"_

_End of flashback._

* * *

"I smell them. They're along that pathway." Kiba told the other two.

Sakura looked at the dirt road. "This is a shortcut. Naruto–you know, the impatient one– always goes through that way."

Kiba's nose twitched a little, gazing back at Akamaru's who's nose also did the same.

"There's also the scent of blood."

Neji and Sakura quickly turned to Kiba in horror and started running down the path.

* * *

"It's Hinata!" Sakura called out, seeing the body lay by the cliff, covered in blood.

Luckily they had Kiba and Akamaru, considering the fog had grown thick.

Neji quickly looked around, noticing one dead body near by and a trail of blood leading towards the cliff where Hinata was.

Sakura ran to the crying girl, tying her hair in the process and kneeled down, lifting Hinata's head up, resting it on her own lap and removed the coat to check for injuries.

"It's just her arm that's in the worse condition. I can heal it up." Sakura looked at the girl's face. "It also looks like she's been here a while. She's exhausted and probably hasn't eaten or slept in a long time too." But before Sakura could mend Hinata's arm, she looked around and saw the other body. It wasn't Naruto's. Afterwards, she went back to Hinata's stunned face while her heartbeats began to increase with each passing second.

"Hinata..." Sakura spoke softly. "Where's...where's Naruto?" Even Sakura's hands were shaking. She couldn't start healing because of it. The jade eyes began to sparkle as tears formed at the edges. Sakura wanted to shake the injured girl, make her reply as soon as possible, but just the thought of the answer prevented her from doing so.

After a momentary pause, Hinata's mouth opened, trying to reply, but only a cracked whisper came out.

Neji and Kiba stood nearby, waiting for a clearer answer.

"Hinata...where's Naruto? Where is he?"

Finally, Hinata looked up, pupils moving to meet Sakura's and then stared at the dark edges of the cliff. With her one good arm, she pointed to it.

"W..what is that supposed to mean?"

"He's gone."

* * *

"Tsunade-sama." Neji peaked through the door, noticing that both Kakashi and Jiraiya were there.

"Ah, Neji, come in." Tsunade smiled. "Did you find those two lovebirds?"

Neji's pearly whites tried to avoid all three adults. It was even harder now to tell all three the news.

"We...found Hinata."

Jiraiya gave out a small breath. "And Naruto?" His arms were crossed and Kakashi got up from his seat, looking at Neji.

"Uh..." The Hyuuga tried to find his words. "We found Hinata by a cliff with another body–a rogue ninja– nearby. As for Naruto...according to Hinata, he fell off the cliff."

He waited for their reaction, but it seemed that time had stopped. The two sannins and one jounin remained as emotionless as the Uchiha normally was.

He wondered if he should continue with the report, and after the long silence, he decided to do so.

"We sent others to the location and even Inuzuka Kiba couldn't pick up his scent. Unfortunately, the cliff was too steep for anybody to go down and search. Some, however, noticed a long river near by. We can only assume that whether he landed on the ground or in the water, the height was enough to...kill him."

Tsunade's lips parted, then pressed together again. The brown eyes had not focused on Neji since his first announcement and remained in the corner of her eyes.

"I see." Her voice was quiet, relaxed and sure. "Thank you. Please make sure they are continuing with this investigation to see if they can find...anything else. You may leave now."

Neji nodded, closing his door on the way out–only after seeing Kakashi's gloomy face and Jiraiya's sudden movement towards the Hokage. He turned his face slightly, hearing small sobs from the Hokage on the other side of the door and the comforting of the other sannin.

* * *

"Neji, do you know what has happened to my daughter during her last mission?" Hiashi's deep voice startled his nephew. "She hasn't spoken once since she's gotten back from the hospital four days ago and she refuses to come out of her room."

Neji stood silently. "I'm sorry sir, I don't know what happened." He turned around and left.

* * *

Ironically, if this event had happened many years ago, the villagers of Konoha would've been happy and pleased. However, the streets were now filled with saddened people or no people at all. Ichiraku's ramen shop had been closed all week.

The skies rumbled and the few people who were out decided to head in and away from the rain.

"Even the skies are crying for him." Sasuke stared out of his window.

His ebony eyes moved across the streets, watching people run into their homes when he saw a certain pink haired girl, holding an umbrella over the stroller.

"What's she doing out in the rain?" He muttered and decided to go outside.

Sasuke crossed the streets, still staring into space. It wasn't until his third call that she noticed he was standing in front of her. Sasuke could tell from the look of her face that she had been crying a lot recently.

"Come into my house or else you'll get a cold."

Sakura shook her head. "No..I'm okay." Her voice was quiet–too quiet. The Uchiha could barely hear her.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Well, you might be okay, but she won't." He looked at Sumi.

The rosette thought for a moment, blinking a few times and then nodded, following Sasuke into the large house.

After they got in, Sasuke put the child into the spare crib, wrapping her around with a few blankets and made sure she was warm. He turned around only to see his female teammate sitting on his couch.

And they say he looked the most emotionless.

Sasuke realized how upset Sakura was–he was too, after all– but the state she was in kind of scared him. He knew Sakura was smart enough not to do anything drastic, but he also knew that she loved Naruto very much, anything could happen during this state of depression.

"Do you want some tea?" He finally said.

She looked over to him and slowly shook her head yes.

Sasuke felt like even he talks more than Sakura now. She barely spoke any words and only nodded or shook her head to answer.

After Sasuke had left the room, Sakura slowly stood up and looked around the furnished room. It was the item on his desk that startled her, causing her to tear up again.

"Here's the tea–

Sasuke quickly set the tea set down and hurried his way towards the sobbing girl. She couldn't stop and her fingers quivered as she held the frame of Team 7's photo.

"He's gone Sasuke..." Sakura's voice, again was cracking. "Naruto's gone and he's never coming back!" Her cheeks had a bright pink tint and her eyes were squinted as tears came flowing out of them.

Sasuke–despite always making Sakura cry– wasn't used to this type of situation. He'd never–if not, rarely– comforted anybody before. He opened his mouth to speak, "Sakura...I.."

He was speechless. It was too hard to come up with anything to say.

Instead, he came up to her and wrapped his arms around her, closing his eyes.

After a long time, Sakura (who was still crying) shook her head slightly. "I should leave. I'm sorry for bothering you.."

Sasuke Uchiha was the type not to cry. He was tough and strong. And at this moment, no matter how much his eyes wanted to, he had to be strong.

"No. It's okay."

He had to be strong for Sakura, but in order for him to be strong, she had to be there with him.

"You should stay. Besides, it's still raining. You'll catch a cold."

Sakura shook her head. "It's okay. I don't want to–

Sasuke squeezed her tighter. "Then stay until the rain stops."

_XxXx_

_XxXx_

_XxXx_

_The rain didn't stop._

_It never stopped._

_One might believe that it's because the sky is crying for him._

A pair of bright cerulean eyes were revealed under its' eyelids.

"Where am I?"

_But really, it's because the sky is crying of joy._

* * *

**To point something out, Sasuke did ****not**** hug Sakura because he loves her. It's because they've both lost someone very important to them. He's just comforting her.**

**Woot, so Naruto is alive–WOW, all of you are just so mad at me for **_**killing**_** him off (except for one person, that is). I don't think I'll ever **_**officially**_** kill someone–maybe seriously injure them so that they end up in a coma or something, but not kill, kill them.**

**Yeah, I brought him back. Geeze, I couldn't take him out! He's got a...**_**skill**_** for interfering. And Sakura and Sasuke will need someone to interfere and help them get together, I guess.**

**Anyway, as you can tell, my fic doesn't line up with the storyline of the manga considering many characters who are dead in the manga are alive in here. I will bring some things up in the manga that I think are...nice to bring up or are necessary though. It's just that I have a layout of things that I want done for each chapter and including things from manga will just mess things up.**

**Expect me to update within a few days to a week.**


	14. The Old Lady

**Sorry for the late update..I've been really busy lately and then I found a new game and drama to be addicted to. Teehee.**

**I'm not fond of this chapter, I just kind of wrote whatever I planned but stopped liking the plan half way through.**

**Pairing: SakuSasu (slight), NaruHina (slight), Team7 (friendship), Naruto love.**

**Disclaimer: I'll own Naruto when I can cook.**

**Chapter 14. The Old Lady **

* * *

Sakura slowly opened her closet door–inwardly, it was painful as she dug all the way to the back of the closet to the most hateful place in her home. There, all silky smooth and untouched for many years, was a black dress shirt and skirt.

As she dressed herself, she remembered the last time she had wore it; it was after the invasion of sand and the funeral for the Third as well as many others. Sakura was supposed to meet Sasuke at the same location as when they met for the funeral of the Third too. Just thinking about it gave her a headache considering everywhere she looked in the village, reminded her of:

Naruto.

Before she left, she tilted her baby's body towards a picture so that the little girl would be able to see the blond's face.

"That's your uncle Naruto, Sumi." She whispered. "He was a great man."

* * *

_A pair of bright cerulean eyes were revealed under its' eyelids._

"_Where am I?"_

"Where am I?" Naruto muttered again, but winced at the last word as soon as he felt the burning pain on the side of his face.

When his vision had cleared, his neck couldn't turn to the side, let alone move slightly. The only thing he could see the was the brown ceiling, and a bit of glow on the corner of his eyes–he was pretty sure it was a fire since he could hear the crackling noise.

Suddenly, he heard a loud squeaking noise coming from what he could only imagine as a door from his left.

His eyes quickly closed and he tried to calm his breathing as the slow steps' sound got louder and louder, getting closer towards him.

"I know you're awake."

Naruto could hear that it was an old woman's voice, and decided to open his eyes so he could see the woman. Again, he tried to turn his neck and again, he cringed at the pain. Instead, he moved his pupils as far as he could to the corner of his eye and saw a granny-like person kneeling next to him and holding some bandages in hand.

Naruto assumed that the woman was older than Tsunade by possibly a few years. Her grey-white hair was pulled back into a neat bun and he noticed a tint of brown in them too. The woman was wearing a grey dress and her movements were in a delicate manner.

"It looks like you're healing very quickly, boy," she told Naruto.

The Kyuubi vessel then realized that she was changing his bandages on his arm.

"Where am I?" He slowly muttered– he felt too tired to ask anything else.

The woman didn't answer his question and continued to check his wounds. However, after a moment of gazing at Naruto's face, she finally spoke, "Who're your parents?"

The question startled Naruto and his face softened. He didn't know why the old lady had asked him that or why she wanted to know either._ 'Does she know something about my family?' _he thought and decided to take a risk at answering.

"I never knew them."

* * *

"Hey."

"Hey."

Sakura watched as Sasuke stood in front of her, also wearing black.

His face, this time, showed many emotions and Sakura for the first time, could read them all. She could tell that he was just as hurt as she–as everybody– was, yet also confused at the sudden event.

The two started walking together at a slow pace. Sakura was the first to speak up.

"I wonder how Hinata is doing."

"Aa."

Again, there was a momentarily pause as the two walked along the dirt road. Suddenly, Sakura stopped and Sasuke did the same, wondering why she did so.

He turned his face, only to see the ramen stand again.

"I'm not sure how much I want to eat here anymore," Sakura's voice was unclear, muffled by her tears. She quickly rubbed them away and started walking again.

Sasuke, however, stood there. His gaze wandered, finding every specific detail at Ichiraku's and how each of them reminded him of Naruto.

He knew how Naruto had touched everybody's lives here. He knew that they were all hurt, but what he never knew was that this was going to happen. Ever since the news, he tried to think; think about what would've happened, if he had just returned home earlier. If he could've somehow helped Naruto pick a different place to be with Hinata on that day.

He quickly shook his head because he knew, that whether he was there in the village earlier, or if he hadn't gone home at all, Naruto was Naruto and he would've taken the shortcut on that day either way.

"Sasuke..."

He looked up and saw Sakura in front of him again.

"You know...Naruto's going to think something's between us if we're.." she sniffed her nose. "If we're the only two that are late and Kakashi is there before us."

Sasuke found it strange that Sakura had said that as if he were still alive, but nodded and started walking again.

* * *

"You never knew them, eh?" The old woman took a deep breath. "I see..." Her voice trailed off.

By now, Naruto could somewhat move his neck and he could feel his arms and legs again.

"Did you know them?"

No reply.

"Did you save me?"

"Yes." The fragile voice spoke.

"How?"

The woman looked at him, surprised and started laughing. "You're a child with many questions, aren't you?"

Naruto made a face at her, feeling a bit insulted. By now, he could fully move his body–despite it being all wrapped in bandages and he sat up. At that moment, he wanted to ask the woman who she was, but at her last statement, he bit his lip and didn't say anything.

He reached his hand into his pocket and gasped.

"Where is it? Where is it?" He kept asking himself and started getting up to search for it. He dug through all of his pockets and around the small bed he laid on.

"Is this what you're looking for?"

Naruto smiled widely when he saw the small red box that was on the palm of her hand. He quickly nodded, running to her and grabbing it. He opened it and calmly sighed at the sight of the golden band with the silvery crystal on top.

"That's a nice ring." The woman suddenly said, surprising Naruto.

He turned to her and smiled. "Yeah, it took me years to save enough money for it. I had to go months without ramen too." He chuckled. "I plan to marry her one day. I don't care if her father objects. I just have to marry her."

The senior stared at his blue eyes, closing her own afterwards as if recalling a memory and then headed for the door.

"You should rest." It was the last thing the woman said before she left the small room again.

However, Naruto wasn't the type to sit still. He waited a few moments before sliding the box back into his pocket and sneaking out.

* * *

Sasuke watched the Hokage stand at the podium and give her speech to the citizens in front of her.

The kid next to him– Konohomaru, he remembered Naruto calling– was sobbing as he did at the Third's funeral. Iruka was comforting him again too, but Sasuke noticed a few tears coming from his old sensei's eyes.

Suddenly, he felt a nudge on his arm and turned to Sakura who signaled him to start walking towards the front.

He waited for Sakura to give the carrier to Ino before walking. Hinata had joined too, startling the strict looking man who Sasuke could only assume was her father.

The three headed towards the stage and Sakura held the microphone in her hand.

"Naruto Uzumaki, to me, was always brave. He was always taking challenges and what I remembered the most about him, was his determination to become the greatest–to become Hokage."

The Uchiha stared at her again, watched as Sakura's face stayed calm as she gave her speech. She looked stronger than earlier that day when she was crying at everything that reminded her of Naruto.

He noticed that it was the shy girl's turn now to give the speech.

"I've always admired Naruto. He's had a rough childhood, yet, he always had a smile on him–

Truthfully, Sasuke didn't have a speech in mind. These past few days had been hard and he couldn't think straight. Although, he was pretty sure he could make something up on the spot.

"Ah-hem."

He gave a confused look before he saw that Hinata and Sakura were behind him and the spot by the microphone stand was empty.

Was it his turn already?

Sasuke carefully walked to the microphone and exhaled, going through his head and trying to know what to say.

"When we were young," he started and paused. Sasuke scanned at all the people in front of him, staring at him. "When we were young, I was always the smart one, the prodigy. Naruto, however, was the worst in the class and was always making a fool out of himself. I remember him failing almost every subject, inventing a stupid jutsu that would make the adults' nose bleed–

There were a few small laughter from the crowd.

–and, as Sakura said, continuously rant about being Hokage. But, after we were placed on the same team, I learned that he was a lot like me and eventually...we grew to become close friends. Even when I had left the village, he never gave up hope and was even more determined to get stronger. After all I've done, he accepted me back home with open arms. The dobe– Naruto is always going to be my best friend–my brother."

* * *

Naruto slowly peaked outside of the door and followed the old woman until he had reached another room. The blond stopped his tracks and as the woman disappeared, he entered a nearby room that had a small light glow coming from it.

He looked inside and saw a bunch of candles–a mourning room for the dead, he figured– and picture frames.

He approached the pictures as one caught his eye.

It was of a beautiful woman, maybe in her mid twenties.

But

what shocked him the most was the name printed on the frame.

"Uzumaki Kushina."

* * *

**Yeah, I originally planned to make something up for his family or whatever, but then the manga pops up his parents' names so I used those.**

**I kinda really want these chapters to be over with. Now that I'm typing them, Naruto's family isn't as fun as SakuSasu fluff. XD**

**Please review and I'll try to update soon!**


	15. Kodak Moment

**Pairing: SasuSaku  
**

**Disclaimer: Meh. The usual.  
**

**Chapter 15. Kodak Moment**

* * *

**A/N**: I got tired of the whole Naruto thing. I'm **not** going to leave it unfinished, but I'll include Naruto in the next chapter. This chapter is pure Sasuke and Sakura (with their baby, of course). The whole reason for this is because I miss writing SasuSaku moments.

* * *

"Hush...Please, for Mommy?" Sakura rocked the restless child back and forth, side to side, almost forming her own tears. There were bags under her jade eyes, but it was darker than the usual stress.

"Just shut up, shut up!" Sasuke yelled, furiously, causing the infant to shout even louder than before.

Sakura stared at him, anger building up inside her. Clenching her one free fist, she took a deep breath, planning to yell at him – only was it after that she realized that if she yelled, the baby would cry harder. Instead, she calmly spoke, "You idiot. You can't tell a baby to shut up."

Sasuke shook his head in frustration, combing his hair between his fingers and letting out a deep sigh. "I don't care. That girl has been crying since you called me – _three_ in the morning!" The current time was one in the afternoon.

Avoiding the bottle Sakura was giving her, Sumi squirmed, moving her arms up and down as she screamed.

Already, Sakura's apartment was a mess with children's clothes hanging off the chairs, a bunch of bottles on the desk near her files and diapers overfilling the trash can nearby. The bright yellow walls that Sakura had originally thought to make the room more cheery didn't help either.

Sakura placed her hand on Sumi's forehead gently. Biting her lip, she spoke, "She has a slight fever. I think she may be teething."

Sasuke turned his head at her. "She's only two months old. Babies don't normally teeth for another month, Sakura."

The rosette was shocked at his reply and inwardly giggled. She had no idea Sasuke knew so many things. Wondering if he had been researching during his own time, she gently passed the infant to him.

"_Normally_, Sasuke. Normally!" She emphasized the word. "It's just like people don't _normally_ run away from their village in the middle of the night to join some snake-man's group of freaks with purple bows tied to their butts, but there are people who do that, aren't there?"

He didn't reply.

"Now, try to distract her from the pain. I'm going to call Shizune to see if she could come over with teething rings or soothing gels."

Sasuke didn't reply, but looked down onto the girl's face. Picking up a toy – a rattle with many rings attached to it – and shaking it in front of her face.

"Please shut up–" He stopped as soon as he remembered what Sakura had just told him. He pressed his lips together and decided to keep quiet. She was just an infant and he could only tell people his age (or older) to shut up. Besides, Sasuke knew that if he had said that word too often, it might end up as her first word.

He had one hand that was free and he used it to rub his temples. Even though the infant had gotten _quieter_– still muffled cries– he could still hear the loud shrieks in his mind.

For a moment, he decided to place her down in a crib so he could use both of his hands to massage his aching head.

"Is your head hurting?"

Sakura startled him, but he nodded. He heard her let out a deep sigh as soon as everything was silent again.

He looked in the crib; the girl was still half asleep, half awake, fidgeting with her baby bottle and her face was still teary.

Suddenly, he felt something on his shoulders, only realizing Sakura was massaging them.

"I'm sorry I called you so late and bothered you," she whispered.

He slowly shook his head, relaxed from the massage on his aching shoulders.

"No it's okay, Sakura. I should help out more often." He knew it was right and he knew he wanted to, but after what he had just experienced in the past eight hours, Sasuke wished it was a lot easier.

After Sakura was done, she fell back on the couch and Sasuke went around the house, picking blankets and dirty diapers up from the carpet.

"Sasuke, leave it until later tonight. It's just going to be a big mess again later. Might as well do it once than do it many times a day."

He nodded and went over to the sofa, sitting next to her.

Everything was peacefully silent. Sakura parted her mouth a few times, but closed them again to decide what to say.

"Sasuke..."

"Hn?"

Her voice was quiet, but loud enough for him to hear. "Do you remember...when we were both on Team 7 and one of our D-ranked missions was to babysit a bunch of kids."

Sasuke knew that she paused to let him reply, but gave up after a while.

"Instead of putting those kids on time out, we put Naruto in the corner and yelled at him for getting in the way. Then the kids started _tackling_ each other and made two of the five cry. At the time, I didn't know how their mother could handle it – twins and three more kids, but I guess looking back, I think it was just to prepare us for this. What do you think, Sasuke?...Sasuke?"

She turned her head only to find a sleeping Uchiha. His mouth was slightly opened, snoring quietly.

Sakura let out a small laugh before picking one of Sumi's cloths and wiping the drool off Sasuke's mouth.

There was a soft knocking on the door.

Putting the blanket over Sasuke, Sakura headed to the door and opened it, finding Shikamaru standing there with one hand in his vest and the other holding a bag.

"Shizune couldn't make it, so she asked me to give this to you." He peaked through the door and raised an eyebrow.

"According to Shizune, it was really loud over here. I wasn't really expecting this _and_ the Uchiha too."

Sakura shrugged. "He came to help and Sumi just fell asleep. Thanks, Shikamaru."

The lazy man nodded. Before leaving, he looked at her apartment again. "I'd help you with the mess, but I have a few more jobs to do. But then again, Sasuke's the father, he should be the one cleaning."

"Yeah." Sakura nodded and waved back to Shikamaru who walked off. Then it hit her.

"Wait, what?"

"The father," Shikamaru yelled back. "All the clues only lead to him– the face features, the time you two have been together, how you trust the child with him the most and I actually heard you two talking once while he was walking you home. I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but you should be more careful if you don't want anyone to find out, Sakura." He looked back and smiled. "Don't worry, I won't tell."

Sakura nodded. "Uh..thanks." She quickly shut the door and placed the bag on the table.

It was then that she had an idea. Opening one of the packages that she had kept in her drawer, she pulled out a new pacifier and carefully stuck it in Sasuke's mouth.

Sakura chuckled. "I need my camera," she muttered to herself.

* * *

**Sorry for the long update. I was distracted by a drama and couldn't write anything until I finished it.**

**WOOT, we reached over 200 reviews! You really don't know how much this means to me :) I love each and every one of your reviews, so keep them coming. **


	16. First Date

**Pairing: SasuSaku (of course)  
**

**Disclaimer: Oh, if I owned this, it would not be Sakura in this chapter, but ME (You'll see once you read it.)  
**

**Chapter 16. First Date**

* * *

**A/N:** You can skip the Naruto parts if you want (its just after every other divider) I know a lot of you don't really care for him and are just looking for SasuSaku fluff. It's not really that important anyway. I'll just sum it up at the end.

* * *

Sitting on a bench with a stroller next to her, Sakura stared at the couple in front of her, envying each and every expression and movement they made. A sigh passed her lips, her palm under her chin and her eyes saddened.

Having a baby was great, Sakura thought, but she knew there was always something missing.

"I want to go on a date..." Slightly whining as she muttered, Sakura leaned back on the bench.

"A date?" Spoke a voice.

"Damn."

* * *

"_Uzumaki Kushina."_

He wasn't sure how long it'd been since he first saw the name, but it had to be a while considering how shaky his legs were from standing – or maybe it was the shock that made him wobbly. Naruto wasn't sure, but he took a step closer, molding every detail of the picture in his mind.

He wanted to shake his head, thinking that there was no way he was related to that woman in the picture; comparing him to that woman, they looked unalike.

"What are you doing here?"

The voice startled him, causing him to turn around and finding the elderly woman standing at the entrance of the room.

Her piercing eyes gazed over to the side, staring at the frame behind Naruto.

"I see...you've discovered it."

Naruto didn't know what she meant, but he turned around again. Each time he saw the name _Uzumaki_ he felt strange. During his entire life, he'd never thought about his family before until that moment – no one had really asked or brought it up.

The woman had paused, waiting for Naruto to reply. After the silence, she'd decided to continue on.

"That woman..."

Naruto froze. He knew what the woman was about to say and secretly, he awaited every moment just to hear it, _but_ there was a part of him that was frightened. He wasn't sure if he _really_ wanted to hear it.

"Is your mother."

* * *

All Sakura could remember was her face turning a bright crimson and shaking her head, pushing the stroller away from Sasuke as quick as she could.

At the moment, she was working in the hospital with Shizune taking care of her baby. Sumi's fever had died down and she had finally stopped crying. It took a while, but Tsunade had finally convinced her to stop worrying about the infant.

Her tired arms quickly collected all the paperwork and shoved them to the side, clearing the desk in front of her. Luckily, it was just a few hours before her shift was over and she got to go home.

However, she heard _the_ most annoying squeals outside the room she was currently in from a group of nurses and medics and well, most of the females. Despite how annoying it was, Sakura tried to ignore it. Suddenly, the door to the room opened and she turned around. It was Sasuke.

He looked like he'd been running away – away from the girls, Sakura assumed– seeing as how tired he was.

"Sasuke? Are you even allowed here? This isn't visiting hours." There were no visiting hours for the employees. So technically, Sasuke wasn't allowed in the hospital unless he was injured or there was an emergency that needed a medic.

"I asked permission from Tsunade. Today isn't a busy day. She's letting you off right now." He quickly stated.

"What do you–

Sakura didn't finish her sentence before Sasuke grabbed her wrist and dragged her out of the building, muttering a few things such as, "I asked, Shizune can watch Sumi for an extra few hours."

Sakura nodded, still being dragged along, catching a few stares from the medics in the building and people on the sidewalk nearby.

By the time they had gotten in front of this huge building, Sakura stopped and yanked her arm away from the Uchiha.

"Sasuke, what is going on?" She asked him.

Giving her a smirk, he took a step closer to her again. "You wanted a date, didn't you?"

Sakura could feel her face light up into a small crimson. "W...Wh..What are we going to be..doing?" She stuttered, wondering what a date with the famous Uchiha would be like.

Again, he smirked.

"You'll see," he said, only loud enough for her to hear and make her heart beat faster.

* * *

The two had sat down – Naruto being more careful because of his bandages.

The creases on the woman's face had darkened and they were back in the room that Naruto had woken up in.

During the silence, the woman had gotten a few books – albums.

"Yes. And I was her nanny when she was young." Her voice sounded shaky, somewhat nervous. "She was from the Whirlpool village, a small one. Her parents were often busy so I was hired to take care of her, and my lord, she was quite a girl. The loudest I've seen. Always cheery and always hanging out with the boys."

She opened one of the albums to show a young redhead in the photo.

"I haven't known you for long, but I think your personality is more like her, Naruto."

Naruto nodded, still silent.

"She had some trouble with her training, always wanting to skip forward to the harder techniques without learning the basics."

Inwardly, Naruto laughed.

"But as she grew older, she matured. After the war–"

Naruto didn't know which war, but didn't want to interrupt. He knew that asking the elderly would just drag onto many tales without going back to the main point.

"– since she had lost her family, she had decided to go to Leaf where most of the refugees had gone. She met your father there."

At the word 'father', the blond's head peaked up.

Unfortunately, his mother's caretaker had then said, "I don't know much about him though."

* * *

There was a soft piano melody playing in the background of the restaurant.

Sakura felt really underdressed, eyeing the entire fancy room; it was empty. She looked at Sasuke who had a dress shirt and black pants. Inwardly, she groaned, staring at the white uniform she never got to change out of.

"Couldn't I at least wear something else?" She muttered.

Sasuke suddenly turned around. He shook his head and lead her to a small table.

On the chair, was a paper bag.

"I figured you'd be like that. Here, put this on." He handed her the fancy bag.

Dazzling her, Sakura nodded, going to the restroom.

Moments later, Sasuke looked up, smirking at the pink headed girl in the dark vintage halter dress. There were small details of floral and the straps were black.

Sakura felt uneasy wearing the dress she could only assume costed as much as the food they serve here.

"The food will be here momentarily," he muttered in her ear when she came out. "In the mean time," he bowed down, holding out his hand. "Would you like to dance?"

With her left hand, it was covering her shying face that was as pink –maybe pinker– as her hair and her right hand slowly– _very_ slowly– reached out to take Sasuke's (forming goose bumps along her arm when she touched it) and they walked onto the dance floor in the middle of the room.

"Aren't there any other people coming?" She asked.

He shook his head. "It's reserved today for us."

Shocked, her eyes widened. "You bought it for the day?" _Just how rich are you?_

He nodded, giving an innocent look. "Isn't that what dates are normally like?"

It was clear to Sakura that Sasuke had never been on a date in his life. "Yeah, in movies," she muttered, but continued dancing. Their closeness made her entire body heat up. A thought that occurred in her mind was when Sasuke had learned to dance like that.

He quickly spun her around, the bottom of her black dress twirling around.

Several waiters came out of a nearby room, holding trays and dishes of food.

The two had stopped dancing and Sasuke walked towards their table, pulling out a seat for her.

"Bon appetite," he said before they started eating.

"Uh huh..." She mumbled.

* * *

"–and they fell in love. I'm not sure whether they got married or not, we'd lost connection by then and it was only a while after that I was alerted of her death. I haven't heard much of them after I came here though. It's really a secretive village formed for refugees like me who don't want to leave the area."

Naruto had been listening at every detail given about his family for the past several hours, for the first time too without interrupting. He wasn't sure whether he had any questions for her anyway.

The woman finally moved next to him and took off the bandages around his arm.

"It looks like you're all healed."

Naruto nodded, thanking the woman.

The two stood, and she lead Naruto out of the village.

He had made sure to record every detail of the location in his head, just in case he needed to come back for any questions he wanted to ask. He looked up, only to see large cliffs. It was difficult to even see the sky from where he was standing. The entire place was dark.

"How did you save me?" He asked.

The woman looked at him. "I have my ways boy. I heard a loud scream, only to find someone fall down and shatter all the bones in his body."

Naruto figured it was one of the men who tackled him.

"It was later that I heard some yells, and I formed a jutsu. See the river?"

Naruto nodded.

"I applied enough pressure, releasing chakra from my hands and making the water rise so that anybody who was going to fall would land safely."

The Kyuubi vessel looked around, hands in his pocket, making sure the ring case was still in there. He watched many of the villagers talking to each other, so friendly. It was really a small town seeing as he could see all the houses from where he was standing.

"If you take the route ahead of you, it'll lead you to a large mountain. There are steps though, so you don't have to climb. Afterwards, turn left and that path will take you to Leaf, boy. You should be there within a few hours." She held out a picture album. "It would be more useful to you than an old woman like me."

Naruto grinned, taking the book and turning around, ready to head back home.

"Thank you."

"Be careful!" She yelled from behind.

* * *

"So...what else do you normally do on dates?" Sasuke asked, playing with his fork.

They had just finished dinner and Sakura wondered if she was still blushing.

"Well..I've never actually been to a fancy restaurant like this before.."

"Then I did the date thing wrong?" It sounded like he was disappointed.

"N..No!" She quickly shook her head. "This was nice too."

Really, all Sakura could think about was the immense bill he was going to pay after their 'date'.

"Sasuke...is this your first date?"

"Do you think I have time to go on dates?" He replied.

Sasuke decided to get up after her silent answer. Sakura got up from her chair, holding onto a bag of her hospital clothes as Sasuke paid the bills.

"Where did you find this dress anyway? And my size too."

"Do you not like it?" Again, it sounded like he was sulking.

"N..No! It's stunning!"

Sasuke smirked. "You're about my mother's size. That was an old dress that she never really wore that was stored in the back of her closet."

Sakura nodded, timidly. _'Sasuke is _too_ fake today. If only he was like this everyday though, but real.'_

They had reached the apartment that Shizune was occupying and Sakura quickly came in and out with a carrier and Sumi. Sasuke had offered to hold the bags and carrier as he walked her home.

"I'll see you tomorrow then." He waved as he left, leaving Sakura in front of her apartment door, red as a tomato.

* * *

**SUM: If you skipped the Naruto parts, really its just the old woman telling him that she was his mother's caretaker. I didn't include too much detail of his family but the woman told him that she didn't know his father. She gave him an album of his mom's pictures and told him which route to go to go back to Leaf.**

**So Naruto will be home soon, lots of Naruto love in the next chapter. But he is part of team 7, so I guess Sasuke and Sakura will be emotional..I think. Not sure what to write next chapter actually.**

**I'm kinda busy in the next few days so I'll **try** to update next week.**

Please review.


	17. Proposal

**Yeah, sorry for the late update. I've been busy...writing another fic. I think I'm going to post that one up soon too...yeah. Don't worry. I won't forget about you guys after I post it up! I promise...**

**I'm not too fond of this chapter, by the way.**

**Pairing: A little bit of everyone like HinaNaru, TemaShikaIno, SakuSasu, NejiTen..yeah**

**Disclaimer: Not mine...**

**Chapter 17. Proposal**

* * *

"Why the hell does she keep dropping her sock?" Sasuke yelled, bending down to pick up the small piece of clothing and brushing off the dirt. It was the third time that day that Sumi had dropped something and he, Shikamaru and Neji were forced to babysit the infant for a day while Sakura took her first vacation in many months with the other girls.

"I dunno." Shikamaru yawned, leaning on the stroller handle. Already, he was tired.

Neji stood on the side, carrying a large bag that consisted of her diapers and other needs. Truthfully, if it weren't for both his cousin and Tenten, he would _not_ be here.

Actually, not only was it a vacation day for Sakura, but they were convincing Hinata to do something active. She hadn't been leaving the house much since the blond's funeral.

The three men had decided to bring the baby girl out for a stroll seeing as she never stopped crying indoors.

They were by the gate when there was a voice.

"How are you three doing? Want help now?" It was Sakura. She approached them, grinning widely at their situation. Her friends were right behind her, also smiling cheerfully at the three babysitters in front of them.

"_Please_," Shikamaru quickly said, pushing the stroller to the rosette and yawning. "This baby of yours is troublesome."

Sakura grinned. "What if I told you that _both_ Ino and Temari were pregnant?"

The lazy man stared at her. He looked at her eyes before he shrugged. "You're lying," he said, causing the girl to laugh. She knew he was shaken up for a moment.

"That would be hell for Shikamaru if both of his wives had children." There was a chuckle.

Everybody instantly turned around, staring at the front of the gate. There, was a young man who's clothes were slightly torn, a bandage on his left cheek and a book held in one hand. He grinned cheerfully, waving at the group with his one free hand.

"N...Na..Na...uto?" Sakura stuttered. Her eyes grew wider and her lips parted, trying to force something out, but only came as complete silence.

Sasuke, however, blinked. He activated his sharingan, staring at the person who stood in front of him.

"Come on, teme. You don't believe it's me?" He cried out.

"I..." Sasuke started though he couldn't find the right words. It was definitely the real him.

Everybody quickly crowded around the blond, hugging him and laughing. Most of their eyes were filled with tears. It wasn't until after that Naruto moved upwards, away from the crowd and smiled softly at the girl in front of him who was still shocked.

"Hey, Hinata."

The violet haired girl didn't speak, didn't move, didn't cry. She was too shocked to do anything but stare at him. Suddenly, her hands started to shake and there were tears in her eyes. "Hi..Naruto..." She didn't stutter her words.

Naruto chuckled, taking another step towards her. "You know...I never got to finish my sentence last time. You interrupted me." He placed the photo album down by his feet, stepping over it until he was only a few feet away from the shy girl.

"What..is it?" She was already too emotional to say anything more.

Ino and Sakura quickly screamed, watching Naruto go on one knee and reaching into his pocket.

"Will you marry me, Hinata?"

* * *

"You idiot!" Tsunade yelled from her desk. Inwardly, she was very emotional, knowing that the blond had survived. She cleared her throat and stared at him in front of her. "Do you know what you just did? That girl finally leaves her house since your funeral–"

"Funeral!?"

"– and you make her faint!"

Naruto stayed silent, but heard a few snickers from behind the door of the room, assuming it was the rest of his friends.

Tsunade sighed, crossing her arms. "Now, why don't you tell me where you've been."

* * *

"I can't believe he proposed!" Sakura squealed. She was on one side of the room with her friends.

The males were across from them.

_XxXx_

"Great, he proposed." Neji rolled his eyes. "Now Hiashi is going to be interrogating me about him and Hinata."

Sasuke didn't say anything and crossed his arms. The Uchiha knew that he and Sakura weren't together and probably won't ever be together, but the fact that she was here, listening to all this meant that she might get wrong thoughts. However, he was glad that Naruto came back, but the fact that he proposed right when he got back is going to give the girls more ideas. _Annoying _ideas. Ideas that might involve him somehow.

"Troublesome," Shikamaru muttered, thinking the same things Sasuke was.

_XxXx_

"I wonder when Neji's going to propose soon..." Tenten sighed. "He doesn't talk much, but we've been together for a while..."

"Is he the romantic type?"

"Yeah."

_XxXx_

"I heard you and Tenten were dating," Sasuke finally said after a long silence.

"You heard wrong. We went on _one_ date and trained the other times," Neji replied.

_XxXx_

"Sumi is so cute...I can't wait to have children!" Ino made funny faces at the infant girl.

"I'd be the perfect mother," Temari softly said.

The two blonds had somewhat gotten along with each other even though they shared the same husband.

"Oh you would. I can picture you being the strict mother, but still loving...your children would be so obedient," Ino complimented.

"And your children would look so cute, especially if they had your blue eyes," Temari replied.

_XxXx_

"Dammit. They're playing with the baby...now they're both going to want children," Shikamaru cursed.

Sasuke and Neji smirked. "Good luck, Nara."

_XxXx_

"I'm never going to get married," Sakura suddenly cried out. All the girls automatically came to her, patting her back and comforting her.

"No one will want to marry a mother!" She yelled out.

"Yes they will, Sakura," Ino said.

"But I have no time...the hospital, missions, the baby...I haven't met a new guy in over ten months!"

_XxXx_

Sasuke looked across the room at the crying rosette. He turned away.

_XxXx_

"I..Is he still in there?"

They all turned around to find Hinata.

"Ah, are you oka–" Neji was interrupted by the girls running towards the Hyuuga heiress.

"Hinata! Congratulations!" They all yelled out, surrounding the shy girl who's face was turning a bright colour.

"You're engaged!"

"You're going to get married!"

"You and him are going to start a family!"

"You'll have the cutest children!"

"Dammit," the three males from across the room muttered.

* * *

"Ah, I just received the news, Naruto. I trust you're doing well?" Hiashi said calmly after Naruto knocked on the large front doors.

Naruto gulped. "I wish to...sp..speak with you..sir!"

His friends were nearby – they convinced Neji to let them hide in his room – as they watched Naruto shakily sit down next to Hinata's father.

"T..To tell you the truth sir, I...have been seeing your daughter for a while?"

"What?" Hiashi spat out. "For how long?"

"Well, not that long! Just...a while...a year...maybe two, but who's keeping track, really?" Naruto nervously chuckled. His hands got a little sweaty.

* * *

Everybody was crowded at the door of Neji's bedroom, trying to take a sneak peak at their conversation.

"Let me see," Ino said, pushing Sasuke into Sakura more as she tried to look through the crowd.

Sakura blushed but remained focus on the blond too.

* * *

"I want you to know that I," he gulped, "love her and I will do everything I can to protect her and make her the happiest in the world." He suddenly bowed down in front of the man. "Please give me permission to take your daughter's hand in marriage."

Hiashi stood there, staring at the blond. "You have no money. What are you going to do? Let her live with you in that apartment you live in?"

Naruto gasped, furrowing his brows. "Uh, no sir! I will work, just like when I planned to get her that ring. I'll work my butt off until I have enough money to have the wedding of her dreams, so that she can live peacefully in a nice big home. I promise I won't take her to ramen everyday. I'll learn how to cook, I'll learn how to help around the house!"

The man was silent. A sigh passed his lips before he got up. "Naruto Uzumaki...How will I know you will keep those promises? You're known for your lying skills in the past."

Naruto shook his head. "I'm serious, sir. There's no way I would joke about this."

"He's right, father." Hinata stepped out, rather confidently. She looked at her father straight in the eye. "I love him too...And whether you accept him or not, I've accepted him and I'll marry him." She held out her hand, showing the ring on her finger.

Hiashi glared at the couple in front of him and suddenly gave a loud laughter. His chuckle stopped, gazing at the blond. "Neji has already told me about you and your plans. Don't worry, I know you'll make her the happiest person in the world."

* * *

The group peaking out the door turned around to face the other Hyuuga who sat on his bed, crossing his arms. He didn't say anything and turned his face away, embarrassed from his friends.

"Awe, _Neji._" Tenten grinned.

* * *

"And..as for housing arrangements, I think you should live here."

"What?" Naruto spat out, unpolitely.

"Yes. This home is fairly big, I want my daughter to continue to live here and there is no way I'm letting her live in your house even if you do say you're going to be working to get a bigger home, but who knows how long that will take." The man chuckled and turned around to leave the room. "I wish you two the lifetime of happiness."

After he left, everybody from Neji's room suddenly came out and surrounded the two, preventing Naruto from having his alone time with Hinata.

The females were the loudest however, circling around the blushing girl.

"You're engaged!"

"You're going to get married!"

"You and him are going to start a family!"

"You'll have the cutest children!"

Naruto looked at the other three males who were smirking at him. His eyes got bigger. "Children?.."

* * *

**Again, I'm not too fond of this chapter. It was hard considering I'm not really familiar with Hiashi's personality.**

**By the way, have any of you noticed in the manga (SPOILERS...I guess) that Sasuke has _the_ worst fashion sense in the history of the world. A cloak, a ribbon around his butt, that shirt! Geeze.**

**The story I'm working on now is called "My Pretend Boyfriend". Here's the summary: **

Sakura's relatives are coming to visit. The problem? They don't know her parents enrolled her in a ninja school. To all Haruno's, being a ninja is frowned upon. so when Sasuke shows up at her doorstep for a mission, what does she do? Kiss him.

**Anyway, I'll try to update soon. Please review and byebye.**


	18. Snow

**Sorry for the _very_ late update. I've been busy with the whole summer thing and going places, hanging out with my friends, yeah. **

**I also might not be able to update for the next little while either cause of how busy I am. And this chapter, in my opinion, is more of a filler for the next chapter. So it wasn't _that_ fun to write (another reason why it took so long to finish)**

**Pairing: SasuSaku, a bit of team 7 too..  
**

**Disclaimer: HA, I wish.  
**

**Chapter 18. Snow  
**

* * *

"Naruto, Sasuke, it's snowing! It's snowing!" Sakura cheered happily when she looked out of Naruto's apartment window.

"Uh huh," Naruto yawned. Who knew his two teammates would come so early in the morning – 11:50am– to help him pack his stuff to take over to the Hyuuga house.

Suddenly, the two males felt a cool breeze against their skin as the kunoichi opened the window, stretching out her arms out to catch the falling snowflakes. She grinned from ear to ear, climbing on a stool to reach out even further.

"Sakura, close the damn window. It's cold," Sasuke commanded, frowning. He was still frustrated with the fact that Sakura woke him so early in the morning to go over to Naruto's – it was 11:25am at the time– and he was _not_ a morning person.

"Yeah, Sakura-chan..we're going to catch a cold if you leave that open."

Sakura rolled her eyes, backing away from the window and closing it. "It's November, the cold weather is coming. Maybe it'd help if you" – she pointed to Sasuke– "stop showing off your chest with that ridiculous shirt and you" – she eyed at Naruto – "would get off your butt and change out of your pajamas."

Gulping down water from her bottle, the jade eyes roamed around the room. Her nose twitched, not liking the stench of ramen in the room. There was a lot of work that had to be done – she couldn't figure out how Naruto could have _so_ much stuff in that tiny apartment – and all could really be seen were the messy sheets on his bed, empty (or half full) boxes of instant noodles, milk that was _way_ past it's expiration date and clothes. Lots and lots of clothes.

"Naruto, how much _orange_ do you have?" Sakura complained. If it wasn't his orange jumpsuit she was looking at, it'd be his orange pajama shirt or striped orange and white pajama pants. Sakura would turn around and she'd see an orange tie sticking out of his dresser.

"Uhh...I dunno." The blond shrugged, pulling something out of his drawer.

Sakura stood there, dumbfounded. "Orange _boxers_?"

Sasuke groaned, falling back on his bottom and pushed the cardboard boxes away. He was too tired from the previous night's party (which Naruto made him attend) to celebrate the two's engagement. Deciding that the more he worked, the faster he could go home. Sasuke got back up, tossing anything he could find on the floor (he really didn't care whether it was food or not) into the boxes next to him.

"Naruto, this stinks!" Sakura yelled, plugging her nose and holding out a laundry basket.

"Oh," Naruto chuckled, scratching the back of his head. "I was supposed to get those cleaned...a while ago."

Sakura shoved the basket in the Kyuubi vessel's arms and opened the door for him as he was forced to go get his clothes washed. The rosette then sighed, bending down to pick up a sock that Naruto had dropped, only to touch skin.

Sasuke flinched, pulling his own hand away from Sakura's hand. He didn't like close contact. Feeling uncomfortable, he turned away, filling the other boxes.

Sakura smiled, glancing up at the shelves and then towards the window. "Sasuke! It's snowing even more!" She yelled out, startling the Uchiha. She jumped up and down, pointing like a small child.

He didn't bother looking up. Feeling yet another cool breeze, he growled to tell Sakura to close the window again. However, she didn't. The next thing Sasuke knew, he was alone in the room.

"Sakura?" He asked, moving his eyes upwards to see that the window was wide open. He furiously got up and peaked outside to see a kid-like adult dance around with the snowflakes. Rolling his eyes –yet again– he shook his head in disbelief, wondering why or how snow could be so fascinating.

Sasuke turned around. He didn't care that Sakura was making him. Naruto wasn't there and neither was she; he needed to go home to sleep.

* * *

"Sasuke...do you not like winter? Even though, well, yeah, technically, it's just the beginning of November and winter doesn't start until– " Sakura was cutoff.

"No."

She pursed her lips, nodding. "I see...Why?" She didn't like the awkward silences between them. Actually, she was tired of them (she _really_ needed to talk especially because working all day in a hospital means talking will waste too much time).

"Hn, because I don't."

Sakura sighed and then moved her eyes to the corner of the sockets so that she would see him. "Haven't you ever thrown a snowball at anybody?"

His eyes narrowed, turning away.

"You haven't!?" She exclaimed, seeming to be _too_ shocked. She quickly ran over towards the side of the road where a pile of snow – that hadn't been stepped on – was. Despite it being very cold, the girl packed together the pile with her bare hands until it was close enough to be a ball.

"Here," she handed him the frozen ball. "I'll let you. Throw it at me."

His brow rose. "...Why?"

Sakura rolled her eyes. "So you know how it feels, Sasuke. Now quick, it's melting."

Sasuke's face turned to the side, noting how ridiculous she was sounding but took it out of her hand anyway, hoping that she'd stay silent. He tossed the snowball to the side so it'd just land on her shoes.

"Che, Sasuke. Where's the fun in that?" She walked up to him, but he continued to walk down the pathway. "Hmph. There are other ways of making him like snow." She smirked.

* * *

"The f–" Sasuke stopped when he turned around only to see both Sakura and Naruto hiding behind a bunch of tree trunks. Wiping the snow off his face, he glared at the two, wondering which one threw the snowball at him (why was there so much snow anyway? It wasn't even winter yet).

Suddenly, Naruto bent down, only to pack the snow together again and threw it at the Uchiha.

Quickly, Sasuke dodged it, looked over and only saw a blizzard of snowballs heading towards him. Being the skilled ninja he was, he dodged most of them.

"Come on, teme. It's like training!"

Sakura giggled. "Yeah, what's so bad with snow?"

Sasuke growled, turning his face to the side and realizing _this_ was the reason why Naruto asked if he could come to the training field with him.

"Teme!" Naruto yelled, aiming another snowball at him.

Sakura joined.

Clenching his fists, he jumped in all directions to dodge the snowballs and eventually, he got to a point where he bent down, quickly packed snow together and _launched_ (as if he were throwing a weapon) at the blond.

"Ouch! That hurts! I'm getting married and you damaged my handsome face, teme." Naruto wiped the snow off his face.

"Hn, you asked for it."

* * *

"Bye," Naruto called out as he went into his apartment.

The only two left started walking down the roads again, heading for Sakura's house which was the closest out of the two's homes.

Again, Sakura was annoyed with the fact that the Uchiha rarely talked, so she opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted.

"Itachi," Sasuke said.

Sakura turned her face so that it was facing him. A brow arched, questioning what he meant.

Sasuke gave a small smirk, also turning to the side to see Sakura. His hands were hidden in his pockets as always and he slowed his steps. "He and I...we used to have snowball fights every year." He averted his eyes, keeping himself from seeing the large smile that Sakura gave him. After the silent reply, he wondered what the rosette was going to say.

"...Did you two also make snowmen?"

He rolled his eyes to her ridiculous question and then turned his face back to her. "Aa."

"And snow-forts?"

He didn't understand why snow made the girl so happy, but he nodded. There was something about Sakura that made her sparkle when she smiled and it seemed that when there was snow, she would smile all the time (more than usual). He watched her on the corner of his eye during their entire walk, watching her gracefully dance across the snow covered path and hold out her hands again to catch the snowflakes.

When they arrived at her apartment, Sakura stopped, looking down at her feet. She closed her eyes for only a moment before she opened them again. After letting out an exhale, she looked back up at Sasuke who was just a few feet away from her, staring right back at her.

"Mr. Haruno.." she shook her head. Sakura knew that she'd been calling him that since the incident, but she looked up to the sky, running her fingers through her wet hair and decided it wasn't appropriate for that moment. "My dad," she corrected herself.

Sasuke noticed her eyes had grown tears and took a step forward towards her.

"If there were ever a snowstorm, I'd stay up as late as I could, waiting by the window everyday until I see a car pull up the driveway. I wouldn't sleep until I see him, because after I see my dad, I would know that he made it safely...that there were no accidents." She paused for a moment.

"And when I was little, I didn't have that many friends. So on days like these," she held her hands out to catch the snowflakes again, " he'd try to come home as early as possible from work and he'd be just out front and my mom would have me in a large snow outfit with the hat and the pompom ball on the top. I would run up to him and he'd pull me in for a squeeze. Then we'd go to the park or some random field that had a lot of open space...and we'd either slide down a large hill...or make snowmen or snow angels.." her voice trailed off as the jade eyes looked up, sparkling more than ever. "He always called me by my name, but when I danced around, trying to catch the snowflakes, he'd call me his _Princess_." She smiled. "Winter has always been my favorite season because of moments like those."

Sasuke sighed, shaking his head at what he was about to say. "It's still early. Do you want to go make a snowman, my Princess?" He smirked.

Sakura giggled at his sarcastic remark and her emerald eyes squinted. "If you're not that busy."

The two started walking past her apartment when all of a sudden, someone appeared.

"Sakura," the man said. "The Hokage has sent me to get you for an urgent mission."

* * *

**It's pretty short, I know. Sorry.**

**I used to wait by the window every night to wait for my dad to come home and then I'd run up to him and hug him and everything so yeah, that was my inspiration cause my dad went "why don't you hug me anymore?" Be glad he asked me that or else this chapter would still be sitting there half empty since I had _no_ clue what to write in it.**

**As for the fic I'm working on, _My Pretend Boyfriend_, I still need to type it up, but I think I'll post the first chapter...this Friday. **

**By the way, thank you to all my reviewers and to those who'd PM me to encourage me to keep updating the fic, I love you all!**


	19. Worrywart

**I am _SO_ insanely, terribly, horribly, a thousand times SORRY I haven't been updating. I'm pretty sure half of you here thought I died or something (and the other half probably thought I discontinued it...sorry.)**

**If you want to hear my excuse, it's cause I had a major case of writer's block for this story. I originally planned to update it a few days ago for the ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY of the story, but unfortunately, this chapter took me a while to finish.**

**Here's the chapter you've all been waiting for and before I start, I would like to thank all of you readers who've been waiting for months and continue to review and PM, encouraging me to write!**

**Pairing for this chapter: Little bits of SasuSaku, Father-daughter moments**

**Disclaimer: I don't think people would like an author who has a writer's block every other chapter...**

**Chapter 19. Worrywart**

* * *

Sasuke sat impatiently, waiting for Sakura to come back from the Hokage's office that she had been rushed to. He glanced over to the crib next to Sakura's sofa, watching the baby girl wave her arms around frantically as if she was trying to reach for something. Unsure of what to do, he picked up a rattle that laid not too far from him and started shaking it over her crib.

Sumi gave a small laugh in amusement, reaching the tiny arms out towards him. She turned her head to the side and then back again, repeating her moves. The infant, again, smiled when Sasuke rattled the toy a bit more.

Sasuke smirked when he notice small white bumps peaking out of her gums. His head was peaking over the crib, watching her every action yet constantly averted his eyes to the door. However, Sakura still wasn't home.

Sighing, Sasuke stopped rattling his toy, placing it down on a table but replaced it with a small stuffed creature instead for her to play in the crib. Afterwards, he got up, walking around the small living room and studied every detail of it as if he were incredibly bored... which he was.

He noticed that she had kept many photos around, whether they were in frames and hung up or sitting on desks or just lying around as if she just got them developed.

Sasuke smirked as he ran his fingers over the binds of the thick books on her bookshelf. They varied from either medicine to cheesy romances.

Suddenly, the door opened and revealed the rosette he'd been waiting for.

"Sorry it took so long, Sasuke! Thanks for watching her," she said, checking the crib and moving the blanket to securely warm the baby girl and quickly running to her room before he got to say anything. Sakura started piling a few outfits into a bag as well as weapons and such.

"Are you going on a mission?" He asked, curiously.

"Uh huh, and Tsunade's making me leave in an hour, so I have to rush since I also have to bring Sumi to the sitters and –"

"The who?"

"Oh, Kurenai offered to watch Sumi while I'm gone with Shikamaru and Temari over to Sand. Apparently there's this huge flu or virus going around there and the Hokage wants me to check it; Temari wanted to come along to visit her brothers and – " Again, Sakura was cut off.

"I can watch her."

Sakura furrowed her brows for a moment, staring back at him with blank eyes. "...I know you can but..." her voice trailed off as if she wasn't entirely confident.

"I've watched her before." Sasuke rolled his eyes. He didn't understand why people didn't trust him with things – especially babies! He just wasn't a people-person; that's why no one has seen him do what he knows he can do.

"For a few hours," Sakura added. "My mission's going to take a little longer than that."

"How long?" He asked, leaning his back against the bookshelf – he hoped nothing will fall on his head.

Sakura paused for a moment, thinking silently. "It might last a while depending on what's going on there, but I heard Gaara say it wasn't anything _too_ serious, so at the top of my head, I'm guessing... three to five days?" She finally stopped packing her bags and focused her attention towards Sasuke. "But Sasuke, don't you spend most of your time training and being with Naruto? I don't want to make it sound like I don't trust you or anything, but are you really sure you can watch her for _that_ long?"

Sasuke frowned, wondering if she really meant what she said about him being trustworthy. Rolling his eyes once more, he pursed his lips before replying. "Sakura, I'm pretty sure I know what to do."

The girl stood there for a moment, thinking it over. "I..." Finally, she made up her mind. "Okay, but if you need help or if you think something is wrong, you _must_ call the Hokage or Shizune."

"Aa."

* * *

It took Sakura a while to list out all the instructions despite how many times she's already told him. She showed him where all the necessary items were in which cupboard, what to do if their daughter refuses to sleep at night, if she's tossing and turning and where to get the pacifiers.

Sasuke merely sat there, nodding. When did Sakura become such a worrywart?

"Okay, I don't think I'm forgetting anything..." she breathed out.

Sasuke sighed along with her, getting up from his seat. "I got it. Stop worrying."

The rosette slowly nodded, kissing her daughter on the forehead before leaving her apartment. After she left, the room was finally reunited with silence and the Uchiha laid back down on the couch, waiting for something to happen.

Often, he was at the training grounds or out with Naruto, but now that he was watching the baby, Sasuke wasn't sure what to do; he never planned to have this much free time.

Suddenly, the baby started crying and he picked her up from the crib, cradling her in his arms and bounced her back and forth until she stopped – she never stopped. Going through all the possibilities, he decided that she was probably hungry.

He walked over to the kitchen with the baby still in his arms, warming up the baby formula and placed the bottle by the baby's face.

She turned to the side, avoiding the bottle.

He bit his lip, preventing himself to go by reflex and telling the baby to shut up – he remembered clearly what Sakura said; you can't tell a baby to shut up. Instead, he stood there, cradling her back and forth and eventually – it took a while before _eventually_ actually came – she hushed down and the Uchiha could finally place her down.

Unfortunately, as soon as he placed her in her crib, she started to scream again.

"No wonder Sakura didn't want me with her for the week," he muttered to himself, picking her up again. This time, he checked the baby's diaper, changing it into a new one (if Naruto or anyone saw him changing diapers, he'd swear, he'd kill them) with baby powder and everything.

Even though she was quite squirmy, he managed to finish changing her and carried her in his arms. She was still small, so he had to be gentle. He shot a small glance at his baby girl as he cleaned up the table. Sasuke noticed that the few strands of hair on her head that were out of place so after cleaning his hands, he gently combed his fingers, straightening them out.

Her voice had soon quieted down, but Sumi never slept. Instead, she enjoyed grabbing onto the Uchiha's fingers, and smiled along to the rattle he shook in front of her face.

There was a knock on the door and the Uchiha placed the rattle down, and went to the door. When he opened it, an even louder _child_ appeared.

"I heard you were baby-sitting, teme, so I decided to come and watch."

"Hn," Sasuke replied, leaving the doorway and went back to the living room. Naruto followed, of course, closing the door behind him.

"I see nothing's destroyed yet," Naruto muttered.

Sasuke frowned. He didn't understand why, just because he may've betrayed the village and didn't like talking to anybody – and maybe, possibly tried to kill a few people from here too – nobody seemed to think he was capable of watching a baby. After all, he's done pretty well for the past two hours.

It was then that Naruto started rambling on about what had happened the previous day when he decided to pop into the academy when Iruka was teaching and how he showed some kids his _awesome_ techniques.

Sasuke, of course, ignored him, merely staring back at the baby girl and rattling the toy again.

"Hey, are you even listening?"

"Aa, I am," he lied.

Naruto began chatting again, this time, complaining how the new workers at Ichiraku's weren't making the ramen properly.

It was then that the phone rang. Unsure of whether to answer Sakura's phone or not, Sasuke finally decided to pick it up – it was Sakura herself.

"SASUKE!" The girl screamed from the other line.

"...Hn?"

Naruto offered to carry the baby while Sasuke was on the phone, so the Uchiha passed the girl to him. Surprisingly, Sumi accepted Naruto and stayed in his arms silently like she did with her father instead of crying like she normally does when either the blond or their sensei held her.

"How is she? Is she doing okay? Has she been fed yet? Oh, have you changed her diapers yet?!"

Sasuke silently stood there, dumbfounded. It had barely been a few hours, Sakura had just left and yet she was calling. He decided to answer when Sakura started calling out his name. He took out a deep breath and, "Stop worrying. She's fine, she's okay, she's about to be fed, and yes, I changed her diapers." He heard her sigh in relief over the phone.

"Okay, good. I'm sorry, it's just the most time I've ever spent away from her was two days, but this is going to be a week, so I – "

"Stop worrying. It'll be okay," Sasuke tried to reassure.

"Yeah, I know. Thanks, Sasuke. I'm going to go now, bye."

Sasuke hung up the phone, turning to Naruto who was trying to make the baby laugh with his faces. However, his _silly_ expressions made the infant start to tear up. Seeing this, the Uchiha walked over and took his baby away from the blond monster.

* * *

Sasuke decided that since most of the baby needs were already there in Sakura's house that he should stay there. He slept on the bed in Sumi's room (Sakura placed a mattress in the baby's room so it would be easier to watch her if she didn't sleep at night), but despite the fact that he didn't care how uncomfortable it was, the baby would continue to cry at night at random times. By the third day, Sasuke was already losing many hours of sleep.

Naruto would sometimes come over, just to see and purposely laugh at the Uchiha. Shizune had also appeared on the doorstep to check up on him.

At the moment, he was looking in Sakura's fridge to look for something to eat. After he managed to make himself some lunch, he sat down by the crib and watched her as he ate.

He noticed that she seemed to be most happy around the purple dinosaur toy especially when he squeezed it so a squeaking noise could be heard. Much to his surprise, she didn't seem to mind the baths that he was giving her and after a while, her sudden cries came less and less just as long as she had her pacifier.

However, it was night time that gave him the most troubles. The baby girl would cry each and every time Sasuke set her down into the crib – she obviously liked being in his arms – even if she had her pacifier or toys. Eventually, he grew tired of trying to get her to sleep in the crib and instead, he placed her next to him (making sure to get her own small pillow so it wouldn't be too high) and to put a few other pillows on her side so she wouldn't fall. He had his arm just above her head too, just in case and made sure she wasn't cold.

Thankfully, Sumi quieted down because of this and Sasuke was able to sleep peacefully for the next few nights.

It was the fifth day now and Sasuke waited for the sounds of the door to open. Since the door never opened that morning, Sasuke assumed she was just running late so when Naruto and Kakashi came, the three went through the baby's room, spending approximately twenty minutes dressing her appropriately for the weather outside.

It was still snowing and the grounds had a small layer of white on it. There were many awkward stares at the three males – especially at the one holding the carrier – as they headed to the ramen stand.

Sasuke placed the carrier on the stool between him and Naruto, constantly turning back to her to make sure she was okay as he ate.

The baby girl just smiled and made a little spit bubble each time she saw Sasuke looking at her.

"Awe, teme, she likes you!" Naruto laughed.

Sasuke finished chewing onto his noodles before he replied, "At least there's one of us she likes."

Naruto frowned as Kakashi walked over to the baby, looking back at her to see what kind of reaction he got from her. Sumi simply laid there and stared back.

"I got nothing," Kakashi sighed, going back to his own seat to finish his lunch.

Sasuke smirked, before adjusting the blankets that were around her but slightly jumped when he realized Naruto and Kakashi were staring at him with sly smiles (Kakashi had a weird look in his eye).

"Hn," Sasuke acted as if it was nothing and turned around, finishing his food.

When he arrived home, he noticed that the note he left – _'Sakura, if you get home and we're not here, we're at Ichiraku's._

_P.S. She has on all her winter clothes. Stop worrying.'_ – was still there, untouched. Realizing that she still wasn't home, he brought the baby inside, taking off her winter clothes, leaving her to watch the scenery in her crib while he cleaned the mess in Sakura's living room.

When he was done, he sat down and stared at the door – watching Sumi in the corner of his eyes, of course – waiting for the door to open. He kept expecting to be startled by the sounds of Sakura coming in at any moment, but despite what the girl said, the fifth day was over and she still wasn't home.

Tired of waiting and noticing the baby was tired too, he picked her out of her crib and placed her on the bed with him, again securing pillows around the baby. Father and daughter soon fell asleep, though Sasuke was still partly awake.

The Uchiha thought he heard a noise, carefully getting up to see if it was Sakura. However, it was only the wind against the trees outside. He frowned, climbing back onto the bed and telling himself to go to sleep. Sasuke didn't know why his eyes were constantly coming back to the door, but he was too tired to think about it.

The next morning – the sixth morning – Sasuke did his usual routine that he had developed over the past few days. He changed the baby's diapers, fed her and ran a warm cloth across the gums of her mouth. He also got her out of the previous night's clothes so she had a new outfit on.

Getting breakfast, he ate slowly, again staring at the front door. When he heard a knock, Sasuke jumped, dashing towards the door, only to be greeted by Naruto.

"Hey!" The blond yelled, cheerful as ever. "That was quick. I thought you'd leave me knocking again."

"Hn," Sasuke gave his usual response, clearing the doorway for him to come in. He walked back to the table to finish his breakfast in silence.

Naruto, not liking the awkward pause, started to talk again before Sasuke interrupted him.

"How long does it normally take to go to Sand and back?" The Uchiha asked, curiously.

"Huh? Uh, just a day or two...it depends if you're rushing or not. Why?"

"Hn, Sakura's not back yet. She said it'd only take five days. It's been six."

Naruto frowned. "Look, if you're tired of taking care of the baby, give her to me or Kakashi-sensei. We'll watch her fo–"

"No, I can watch her. I was just wondering why it's taking so long," Sasuke interrupted again.

Naruto stared back at the Uchiha before he gave a large grin and bursted out laughing. "Awe, look at you, teme! You _lurveee_ her!"

Automatically, the raven-haired man responded to that with a growl. "I do not."

Naruto finally calmed down from his laughing fit and replied, "No, not _that_ way. I mean you care for her as a friend. You know, like you and me and our love for each other!" He laughed again at what he just said. "You know how before you guys were just awkward cause you left her on the bench and she was semi-mad at you cause you were an ass! Well now, you're at the point where you two are like..best friends, kinda! Yeah, teme, you're just worried for her."

Sasuke took a moment to take in what Naruto had just said, a bit confused. "Worried..." He repeated. Then another question hit him. "Do I ever stop?"

Naruto shook his head. "Nope, that's the beauty of having friends, teme. Geeze, how can you not know this stuff?"

Sasuke gave him a glare. It wasn't his fault. He never had anyone to really _worry_ about in his life.

After Naruto's attempt to quiet Sumi down, he decided to leave while Sasuke was giving her the bottle.

Sasuke thought about what Naruto had said about worrying as he, again, turned to the door. He muttered a curse inwardly at his reflexes to turn to the door each time he heard a small noise. When he turned to focus back onto the baby, he noticed that outside the window was snow; a lot of snow.

He stood, walking towards the large window to look outside where a snowstorm was about to begin. He bit his lip as he started to wonder about Sakura.

Sasuke stared at the floor for a while, memorizing each of the carpet detail while thinking about what the rosette had told him just a week ago before she left for a mission.

"_If there were ever a snowstorm, I'd stay up as late as I could, waiting by the window.."_

The Uchiha went back to the crib, lifting the baby out of it and started to pull it over. It made a large creaking noise as he pulled it, but to him, it wasn't heavy. He managed to get it so that the crib was near the window. Sasuke put Sumi back into the crib as he sat on a nearby chair, staring out at the scenery.

It looked as if he was hypnotized by the many snowflakes falling from the skies, but he never moved from that spot unless he had to.

At times when Sumi needed to be hold and cradled, Sasuke would, but in the corner of his eyes, it would always be outside at the window, waiting for either the snow to stop or for Sakura to be seen. He waited for hours, even avoiding his own dinner and even though it was dark and the snowstorm was getting worse – he couldn't see anything, but he stayed there anyway.

It was late and it was time for Sumi to sleep. She refused to be in the crib in the living room, so Sasuke had to bring her to her room. Again, she didn't want to be in the crib in there either (Sakura had managed to afford two cribs for two rooms) and wanted to be on the bed with Sasuke – he wondered why she was so picky at just three months.

Sasuke decided to lay down on the bed with her for a while. He kept his eyes wide open, trying to not fall asleep. He wanted Sakura to be home soon, but wondered if something had happened because of the storm. Shaking his head, Sasuke tried not to think about it and kept his ears on alert for any door sounds.

He eventually fell asleep too, but woke up early the next morning. Sasuke rubbed onto the back of his neck. He had slept poorly the previous night and now his shoulders and neck were aching. Scratching his head, his bed head hair was a mess, but he quickly ran out to the living room.

The window showed a clear sky with a bright sun, melting away some of the snow.

This made the Uchiha sigh in relief when he heard something.

Sakura came walking into the room with a large duffle bag in her arms.

Thankful, Sasuke didn't show how happy he was that she was back, but greeted her with an, "Aa. Welcome back."

The rosette smiled. "Good, I was scared I was going to wake you up. Are you normally up at this time, Sasuke?" She still kept her voice quiet.

"Sometimes," he shrugged, serenely walking into Sumi's room and making sure the baby was okay. He adjusted the pillows again and moved her so she was in the middle of the mattress.

"Why isn't she in her crib?" Sakura suddenly asked.

Sasuke turned to her. "She wanted to sleep with me," he smirked.

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "Really..?" She gave a large grin, putting her bag in the corner. "Well, thanks for watching her, Sasuke. The mission ended a few days ago, but because of the storm, we had to stop by a hotel on the way here."

Nodding, Sasuke didn't say anything.

The rosette moved her jade eyes over to him again with a sly smile. "You weren't worried, were you?"

Gritting his teeth and holding in his pride, the Uchiha shook his head. "Of course not."

Sakura, again, smiled. "Good. Anyway, why don't you stay here and I'll make some breakfast for us both – you haven't had anything to eat yet, have you?"

Sasuke shook his head, yawning.

Seeing this, Sakura gave him a questioning look. "If you're tired, you can go back to sleep. I'll try not to be too loud," she offered.

"No thanks. I'm okay, really." Sasuke smirked as Sakura turned to the kitchen for breakfast.

* * *

**Please review and I'll try to update as soon as possible.**

**P.S. Happy Turkey Day**


	20. Insults

**I guess I _could_ tell you why I haven't been updating this, but if you don't really care because you're tired of my writer's block excuses, feel free to skip this entire bolded paragraph; I don't mind. Well, anyway my excuse this time is the usual -- no free time, writers block, too busy with other fanfics, lost track of time, etc.. **

**HOWEVER, I _seriously_ need to THANK everybody for continuously (over and over and over again) telling me to update this fic. I know I've said it a gajillion times, but I really mean it. Without you, I would've probably not bothered to type this chapter up. You guys encourage me to keep writing :)**

**Pairing: SasuSaku, a teeny, tiny, little bit of NejiTen**

**Disclaimer: I GOT CHINESE NEW YEAR MONEY. THATS ONE STEP CLOSER TO BUYING THE RIGHTS TO OWN NARUTO, MAN!  
**

**Chapter 20. Insults

* * *

**

"Guys...." the weapons mistress started, "_we_ have some news. _Good_ news." She slowly eyed her audience, composed of Sakura, Sasuke, the Naras, Naruto and Hinata. Tugging onto Neji's arm slightly, she ignored the fact that he had a dull look on his face, obviously embarrassed. "We're getting married!" She squinted her eyes as she smiled brightly.

Immediately, Ino jumped up, pulling Tenten away from the Hyuuga and squeezed her. "Congratulations!" She squealed.

It was after that she was followed by the others who also stood, congratulating them as well.

They all soon sat down, enjoying their dinner at the local restaurant (luckily for Naruto, they served ramen there too). Drinking and cheering happily, Sakura kept a close eye on the clock, making sure she wasn't losing track of time to go pick up the baby later that night.

"Sakura!"

The rosette quickly turned attention to the blond who called out her name. "Yes, Ino?"

Her blond friend smiled cheerfully. "You know...you're the only one left to tie down the knot."

"Yeah, you too teme,!" The other blond roared, somewhat drunkenly because of the many glasses that were in front of him.

The two who were cornered by their friends didn't react as expected. Instead, they merely sat there, blinking. The atmosphere grew dull and it wasn't until Sakura made the first move – of rolling her eyes, that is – that Ino groaned.

"Sakura, honey, you're eighteen– "

"Ino, most people don't get married until they're _nineteen_," Sakura replied sarcastically. "Besides, I'm _way_ too busy to date. Oh, and Sasuke's just too chicken to find a girl," she added. The rosette gave a small grin at the frowning Uchiha. Her pink locks were curled that day so Sakura pushed the large ringlets to the side over her shoulder.

Sasuke was quiet. Though what Sakura had just said, he completely _disagreed_. He wasn't scared of the opposite gender, just aware with the fact that they will go to extreme measures to get what they wanted. "I'm not allowed to go on dates," he finally sighed. "It was one of the rules for being on probation."

Everybody's eyes quickly glanced up at him, furrowing their brows and inwardly coming up with dozens of questions. They quickly assembled themselves around him.

"Teme..." Naruto breathed out. "Is that true?!"

"Aa....They don't want me to – " He was cut off.

"It's a lie," Shikamaru lazily said, yawning afterwards – he was the only one who stayed at his seat. "They actually encourage _the final Uchiha_," he emphasized the words, "to find someone and marry _soon_." Shikamaru carefully eyed to the corner of his eye at Sakura who looked away. He picked up his chopsticks and started eating again, ignoring the shuffling sounds of the chairs when everybody sat back down again. _They get too excited, too quickly_, he thought. It wasn't until his wife piped up that he focused his attention to his surroundings.

"_Great_ idea, Shika-kun!" Ino exclaimed. "We should set him on a date with someone....Someone who _also_ needs a date," she leered at Sakura and then at Sasuke.

Sakura furrowed her brows at Ino's remark, curiously wondering what kind of scheme she had come up with this time. However, the cherry colored headed girl didn't hear of any plans from anybody else from that point on and soon left the restaurant.

* * *

The following night, Sakura was getting ready to leave from her hospital shift and realized Ino was waiting for her at the entrance – with her plan ready, of course (Sasuke was her plan).

There was a crowd of people – her friends – blocking the entrance of the hospital and annoying many people. Naruto and Neji had their grasp onto both of Sasuke's arms, keeping him from moving anywhere.

"We're taking you and Sasuke out to dinner," Ino proudly told Sakura when the rosette furrowed her brows at them questioningly. "We're going to be just a few tables away from you guys – oh, did I mention we made reservations for you guys at _the_ most renowned restaurant in the village – so don't even think about escaping. Tenten had to convince Neji to make deals with the owner, which by the way, Sakura, is _a lot_ of hard work – thanks again, Neji," Ino didn't stop talking, obviously thrilled with the planned night.

Sasuke stood there silently – both arms locked – and was just as dumbfounded as Sakura was, having just heard of Ino's little project for them for the first time. His lips slightly parted, trying to come up with an excuse to leave or a name suitable enough to call this idiotic plan – _preposterous_ just didn't seem to be enough.

"But, Sumi – "

"Already taken care of," Ino interrupted. "Hinata's taking care of her at home right now and some of us will be coming back to check up on her."

"You're taking _shifts_ to watch the date?" Sakura exclaimed.

The blond across from her merely gave a sly smile. "Why of course, we wouldn't want to miss this event, would we now? I mean, who knows what Sakura Haruno does on her dates and we wouldn't want to miss Sasuke's first date either."

Sakura rolled her eyes. Technically, if they counted her date just a while ago, _that_ was Sasuke's first date, but no one needed to know that. A sigh escaped her lips as she wavered to the side as Ino spoke, wondering if she could make it out of the hospital before anyone noticed – they were too preoccupied with Sasuke who was trying to escape Naruto's grasp on his arm.

"Wha–hey!" Ino called after Sakura, immediately causing Tenten to jump after the medic and hold onto her as well. "Sakura, you are going on this date and you are going to thank us for saving your future, one day."

* * *

"Ah-hem," Sasuke cleared his throat uncomfortably. He stared at the food in front of him – they were ordered by Naruto, who was just in the corner of the restaurant along with the rest of the group – and then up at Sakura who sat in front of him. He glanced at the clock that was nailed to the wall on the side, wondering when their _forced_ date would be over. Suddenly, the Uchiha heard the woman sigh.

Sakura was tapping the top of her pen on the table, quickly reading her papers and filling out her documents for work. "So," she decided to break the tension, but kept her eyes on the paper. "What's new with you?"

"Hn," Sasuke replied.

Sakura was mute for a half a minute before she replied, "Cool." Finally scribbling the last detail needed on her papers, jade eyes peered upwards, moaning inwardly about how miserable this date was. At least when they were alone, they could have a decent conversation, but now with others watching, it felt uncomfortable even if they couldn't hear what they were talking about.

"My poor baby," Sakura thought out loud. "She's going to have to grow up in _this _environment." The kunoichi leaned back on her chair and glared at the back group by the door – Naruto gave her a thumbs up and Ino winked (they were the only two who seemed to be having the greatest time).

"Well, at least her parents aren't that insane," Sasuke muttered, barely moving his lips.

Sasuke's comment caused the girl to give a small smile, forcing herself to keep her jaw locked and not laugh. "Well, her Mother isn't. Not sure about her Father though," she teased.

Frowning, Sasuke _somewhat _did agree with Sakura. He finally picked up the spoon in front of him and ate his food. "Hopefully she'll get her looks from her Father. Her Mother is a little crazy-looking, if you know what I mean. She's not the attractive type. " The Uchiha smirked, watching Sakura's expression grow from calm to furious.

"Well, I hope she doesn't get her Father's hair; it'll be sticking out in all ends, like a chicken. I mean, if I saw a girl with _that_ hair, I'd pity her so much...I mean, can you imagine all the insults she gets – and not just directly either. From behind the back is what she'll get," Sakura tauntingly murmured.

* * *

"Oh, look! They're talking! My plan is working _so_ well." Ino grinned from ear to ear, imagining the couple's future together. She leaned the side of her head to the back of the chair, continuing to observe.

Shikamaru – sitting next to Ino – yawned. Although he hadn't been watching the entire time they were there, he finally decided to see what was happening. When he turned his head, however, he furrowed his brows. "Ino...it looks like they're fighting."

"True. Sakura's fists are clenched and Uchiha looks like he's about to flip that plate into her face," Neji explained.

"It'll be okay," Naruto snickered, leaning back against the chair too. "Sakura and I used to fight like that and now we're really close." He eagerly looked back at the two – Sakura was now (silently, considering no one could really hear anything) slamming her hands onto the table. Sasuke, however, was pointing one finger at her and probably (_very_ likely) cursing.

* * *

"– and the hair too! It looks like something you take when you're nauseous. No one wants a little girl growing up and suddenly start growing hair with that color. Let's hope she still has the hair she has now in twenty years."

Sakura felt as if steam was coming out of her ears. "Pink is a very natural and beautiful hair color. I actually hope her black hair now is just a phase and she'll start growing the radiant corol hair that everybody loves so much. I mean, that black she has now...if it's anything like her Father's, it'll be greasy looking when she grows up!"

"Hn, I wonder if she has a mole on her butt like her Mother," Sasuke muttered through clenched teeth.

The jade eyes widened and Sakura gasped shockingly. Her eyes narrowed viciously at the man across from her. "That is _not_ a mole, it is a birthmark!" After deciding that their _subtle_ argument was enough to attract passerby's eyes, Sakura gave up the plan to launch the butter knife that was tightly gripped by her hands, into his face. Instead, she carefully set it down and looked back up at him. "There's actually one thing I hope she gets from her Father."

Sasuke's one brow rose. "And what would that be?"

Sakura gave a small giggle, but her wicked smile afterwards prepared Sasuke for the worse. "I hope she's _also_ interested in guys."

"I guess that makes _you_ a guy, then," Sasuke quickly said, but after seeing Sakura's sudden reaction to his statement, he rethought about what he just said.

The rosette gulped, unsure of what to say. She pursed her lips, casually raising her hand to her cheek to feel it's temperature – a little bit over the normal, but burning up to intense heat by the minute. Turning her head slightly to the side so her vision wouldn't be entirely focused on Sasuke, Sakura finally picked up the pair of chopsticks that laid in front of her and ate the cold food that was untouched until now.

_Damn, damn, damn_, Sasuke muttered to himself inwardly. He mimicked Sakura's movements and started eating his food as well, wondering how stupid he could be to not think about what he should or should not say.

The restaurant – though full – felt mute to Sakura, except for Sasuke's previous words constantly ringing in her head. She glanced to the corner of her eyes, finding Ino's questioning face – probably asking the others why she and Sasuke weren't talking to each other – and frowned. Giving a long exhale, she pushed her empty plate to the side.

"I hope that when Sumi grows up," Sakura's voice was low as if she was unsure if she should be saying this or not. "She'll have her Father's intelligence and strength – and looks."

Sasuke smirked.

The room was yet again silent.

"Well?" Sakura began again, frowning. "Aren't you going to say any qualities you want her to have from her Mother?"

The Uchiha sighed. "Hn, not really." He ignored Sakura's growl and got up, paying the bill and putting on his coat.

"Hmph." Sakura quickly followed, putting her coat on as well. The rosette had been distracted, she didn't even notice the group in the far corner getting up too and following after them.

Sasuke walked her home, of course, like he always did and their night was silent. He kept his hands in his pocket and merely shifted his eyes back and forth to gaze at their surroundings – an old habit he picked up on when he was away from the village.

"Dinner was nice," Sakura said again, not too long after she and Sasuke had left the restaurant. A smokey puff of air left her lips with every breath she took. "We should do it again sometime," she paused, "as friends."

"Aa," Sasuke responded.

"But nothing more than dinner," the girl quickly replied as she turned her head to face his, flipping her hair over her shoulders.

Sasuke gave a small smirk, licking his lips and replied, "And a two drink limit. Anything after is just juice or water."

She felt like laughing, taking a few steps ahead of him, but turned around so she continued to move along the sidewalk – backwards. "And in a public place, so no more babies."

"Aa."

"Okay."

The air was yet again wordless, but not as awkward as most of their conversations. Sasuke merely continued to walk in the correct direction and Sakura had spun around on her heeled boots catching snowflakes, of course. He didn't feel the need to say anything and found it somewhat odd that sentences and speeches didn't come out of Sakura's mouth either – even if she had matured and talked less than she used to, it was still a lot.

A small arch on Sasuke's mouth was formed when he noticed the cotton candy haired girl smiling at him. They just needed a moment of silence together.

* * *

**Don't expect the next chapter too soon. You guys know how awful my updating habits are with this fic. BUT, I _will_ force myself to type it up whenever I can. Any questions about this chapter (confusion and such) or complaints that I'm not updating regularly or criticism on my writing, feel free to tell me.  
**

**OMG, MY EXAMS ARE ALMOST OVER. JUST TWO MORE!!**

**With love, Xmarksthespot :D  
**


	21. The Stuff

**Hiya guys! It's been a while, but here I am with another chapter!**

**I also would like to thank all of those who reviewed and added me to their favs, I'm forever grateful :)**

**Pairing: Same as usual.**

**Disclaimer: Noope**

**Chapter 21. The _Stuff

* * *

_**

It was a bright day despite the snowstorm that flew in just the night before which ended up blocking most of the streets of Konoha. Plus, it was still below zero, windy and the invisible layer of ice kept weary eyes alerted. However, this also meant the hospitals were easily filled up with ice-related injuries. Luckily, a certain pink haired medic had the day off for..._special_ reasons.

"WHAT'S THE EMERGENCY?!" The blond cried as he slammed her apartment door open. His eyes showed intensity, the same kind of emotions running through his mind he only had during missions. His teeth were clenched as the ceruleans eyed the entire room.

Behind Naruto was another man, just as panicked as he was. He studied the apartment carefully. "Sakura?" Sasuke yelled, balling his fingers into a tight fist.

"Over here.." a weak voice stuttered – it came from the bedroom, drawing the two males to it (they were incredibly worried, though Sasuke wasn't going to admit it). After all, it wasn't like Sakura to call them over for an emergency; normally, she was the one who usually helps one of them.

"Sakura?" Naruto said her name when he and Sasuke entered her room. They saw her lay weakly on the bed in the fetal position.

"I tried calling Ino...and Tenten – they weren't home. Hinata's gone too," the rosette whimpered.

"What's wrong?" Sasuke asked. He noticed in the corner of his eyes that Sumi was still peacefully – it took off a load of pressure on him: there was a part of him that thought that something has happened to _her_.

Sakura licked her dry lips, silent for a moment as if she had to choose her words carefully. "I," she started slowly, "need you guys to get me...some napkins." She glanced at the two's reaction and was shocked herself when she had noticed neither of them were freaking out. Pursing her lips, she raised both eyebrows, hoping that would emphasized onto what she was trying to say.

"Uh," Sasuke was the first to make a sound. "Don't you have any?"

Sakura blinked.

"Yeah, I thought I some on your kitchen table, Sakura," Naruto said blankly. He scratched the back of his head, chuckling. "Geeze, I thought you said it was an _emergency_." He was about to walk out of the room when he said, "I'll go get you some right now, if you want."

Sakura mentally slapped her forehead, realizing she _should_ have expected this from Naruto (even Sasuke). Especially considering the blond spent most of his adolescent years training with the frogs and Sasuke was with the snakes. "I meant I need.....I...," she paused, "I _need_....I, uh.._toiletries_." She tried to avoid their faces while speaking, obviously embarrassed. "You know...when a woman gets her...you know?" She had hoped the two understood without having her go into full detail.

Sasuke and Naruto stood still, more confused than they had ever been.

Finally, Sakura sighed. "I have my period," she said bluntly.

It took a moment, but soon afterward, Sasuke froze, unsure of what to say. He glanced over to look at Naruto's reaction, concluding that the other male didn't know what to do or say either.

"Oh...kay," Naruto finally murmured. He started to look extremely nervous and sweaty.

"So do you think you guys can... go get some for me?" Sakura angelically asked. "Please? Naruto, you owe me at least three years worth of ramen fees, and Sasuke, you owe me for ditching me in the middle of the night on a bench!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Sakura, for the past dozen favours, you've only used _that_ excuse. I really think that we're even – "

"Tch, my ass, we're even," Sakura interrupted. "You have no idea how much it hurt me," she said dramatically, pouting her lips. She looked up at him with her puppy dog eyes.

Sasuke growled, turning his attention to the frowning blond.

"But Sakura," Naruto whined. "I don't wanna. And if we do this, we're going to have to go outside. In public. Where people can _see_ us."

Her thin lips formed a line. Her scowling appearance suddenly made the two males across from her jump and her brows tilted downwards. "You _will_ go buy me pads or I will break your arms every time I PMS – that's _monthly_, Naruto!" she threatened.

Her comment made him gulp. "Come on, teme," he uneasily walked the door. "Lets go get her..._the stuff_."

XxXx

"Pst, Sasuke," Naruto whispered the moment they entered the convenience store just a few blocks away from Sakura's apartment. He studied the entire store, looking at each of the aisles "I see a lot of junkfood...and ramen, but none of whatever Sakura needs."

"Hn," the Uchiha gave an upside down smile. "We'll just have to look," he seethed through gritted teeth.

The two males looked in all corners, scanning the shelves (not as carefully as they should have) and gave up by the time they went through half the store. Obviously, neither of them liked being inside a store for too long, unless it was to choose what kind of instant ramen should be for dinner that night – at least, for Naruto it is.

"Go ask her, dobe," Sasuke nudged him, eyeing the receptionist at the front. "She's female. Maybe she will know."

"NO!" Naruto screamed, causing attention from other customers. He lowered his head, attempting to hid himself from public eye. "They'll just laugh at me and tell all their friends. Then their friends will tell all their friends who will tell all their friends who will tell Hisashi who will kill me and take Hinata away, make her die of a broken heart because she lost me and then it will make me depressed and – "

Sasuke gave a long sigh, rolling his eyes and trying to zone out all of Naruto's ranting.

"– and _that_ will ruin my reputation, so they won't let me be Hokage and – "

"_Shut. Up_." Sasuke muttered, rubbing his tired eyes. He was exhausted from the lack of sleep during the past few nights. "_I'll_ do it. Anything is better than listening to you," he concluded, leaving.

"Thanks, teme!" Naruto grinned from ear to ear. He took a few steps back and hid behind a few boxes. The blond didn't want to look like the guy who came with the other guy buying...feminine products.

"Excuse me," Sasuke breathed out, clearing his throat.

The girl at the counter who was sorting the back shelf, turned around. She took a moment to gaze at the beautiful man in front of her and then gave a cheery grin. "Good afternoon, how may I help you?" Normally, convenient store workers would never be this polite to a customer. Sasuke Uchiha, however, was an exception.

"I was wondering...if you could help me," Sasuke temporarily froze, searching for the right words, "to find something."

The girl stood there, still beaming with joy that Sasuke needed her help with something.

"I need to get, well, you know, what women get?" Bright whites were shown as he bit his lips, still trying to come up with the proper vocabulary. Finally, he found an easier way to make him sound less creepy yet still make her understand. "My _girlfriend_'s time of month has come."

"_Oh_," the girl muttered, "I know what you're talking about now!" She gave a small chuckle, angering the already embarrassed Uchiha. "They're in aisle three. I'll show you."

"Aa." He followed. He noticed in the corner of his eyes that Naruto was giving a thumbs up, but then turned around to go through the packages of ramen.

"Here we are. Do you know which brand she uses?"

With those few words said, Sasuke took a deep breath to try to calm himself from hyperventilating. He had never seen so many different brands of one product before (other than ramen, which Naruto was the cause of). He glared at the girl, hoping she would have a kind enough soul to help him in his time of need.

The girl gave a friendly smile when she saw Sasuke look at her. However, she remained standing silently.

Sasuke furrowed his brows, begging for some sort of savior to come and help. His eyes shifted back and forth, scanning the mysterious packages he had never seen in his life – tampons, pads, big, small, _Always_, _Maxi._

"Uh, excuse me?" the girl said after receiving no reply.

"Hn," Sasuke replied quietly.

She gave a small smirk, obviously laughing at him on the inside. "If I were your girlfriend, I'd choose this brand; it's one of the more popular choices for women."

"Aa." He quickly muttered. "I will take it then." He grabbed the package and followed her to the register. He waited for her to scan the item and punch the buttons on the machine so he could pay and leave.

She handed the bag to him and smiled. "It's great that you're doing this for her. I guess she must be in a lot of pain if she couldn't get these herself."

"Hn – what?" Sasuke looked back at the girl. "What did you say?"

She blinked a few times before responding. "Her cramps. They must be really serious."

"Oh, right," Sasuke said, clearing his throat. He vaguely remembered the Hokage talking about that during one of their health sessions at the academy just weeks ago. At the time, Sasuke didn't really care, so listening wasn't a big part of it.

He turned around, seeing Naruto talking to a few men.

"Sasuke," he called out. Naruto stumbled over to the Uchiha, waving off the men who was just talking to him. "Tell Sakura that I'm sorry, but I gotta go over to Hinata's." Before Sasuke could say anything, Naruto had already dashed off.

XxXx

It didn't hit Sasuke until he had reached Sakura's apartment that Naruto was suddenly so busy with his life. In fact, everyone was; it was just him who didn't have to work for anything – except for maybe a few simple missions for his probation and taking care of the baby every now and then. He frowned, remembering that the only reason he came back to Konoha was because he had nothing to do with his life in the first place. Even now, his life was just a dull wasteland where everybody had things to do and he got to walk the streets freely everyday.

Sasuke leapt up the steps, opening the unlocked door and calling out Sakura's name. Although there would normally be a reply, the room was silent, so the usually unperturbed man called her name again. "Sakura?" he repeated, grasping tightly onto the bag.

"Yeah?"

Much to his relief, the rosette had replied, but weakly. Her voice was unusually quiet and her reply wasn't followed by multiple sentences.

Remembering what the lady at the store had said, Sasuke went into Sakura's room, finding her in the same spot she was in when he left. His hold on the bag loosened slightly when he saw her smiling face. Her head was resting on a few dozen or so pillows, so it looked like she was sitting rather than laying.

"You got them!" It sounded like she was congratulating a child for accomplishing a simple task. "It wasn't too much trouble, was it?" She gave a sly smile, enjoying Sasuke's well known frown. She kicked both legs over her bed, getting up. However, both hands clutched onto the side of her tummy.

Sasuke's lips parted slightly, taking a step forward at the same time. He placed the bag at the end of the bed and walked over to Sakura.

"Are you okay?" He quietly asked, as if shy from asking such a question.

Before Sakura could answer, Sasuke bent down, putting his arms under her knees and lifting her up easily. He turned around, ignoring the stuttering and blushing Sakura. He grabbed the bag with one free hand on the way out.

"There," he said, letting Sakura down just two rooms away from the bedroom in front of the washroom.

"Uh." Sakura breathed out. "Thanks.."

Xxx

After Sakura was done with her business, she shifted back to the multiple shades of red when Sasuke carried her back into the bedroom. She laid back onto her bed and stared back at Sasuke. Pressing her lips together, she finally spoke up, "Do you want to say and keep me company?"

Sasuke was startled by the question and truthfully, he didn't know what to say. "Uh," he murmured.

Sakura smiled again. "You don't have to, if you don't want to."

After hearing that, it was only right to say 'no, it's okay, I'll stay." So, Sasuke shook his head. "Hn. I'll stay."

"Yay!" Sakura smiled. "I have someone to watch movies with now." Sakura never liked being at home with no one to talk to, so the fact that the Uchiha was willing to stay made her happy.

Sasuke looked around, pulling a chair from the other room. He placed it not too far from her bed, but still at an appropriate distance.

XxXx

The next day, everybody's usual routine came back, so Sakura – pain free – was back at work, Naruto was with his fiancee.

As for Sasuke, his day was a little different. Instead of being at home or training like he would normally do at that time, he received a call from the Hokage, asking him to see her in her office. When he arrived, he was greeted, not only by the Godaime, but the elders too. His mouth curved downwards, only guessing that his visit concerned his probation.

"Sasuke Uchiha," Tsunade started, "we found a second part of your father's will. Please take a seat."

* * *

**Just so I know...how many of you readers are _male_? Not that reading romance fics is bad, but I just want to know...for future chapter references....Wow, I should've asked this last chapter before I wrote this one. Hehe....**

Please review :)


	22. Understand

**Pairing: Sasuke and Sakura. I don't think I'll be adding the others for a while.**

**Disclaimer: Same as always.**

**Chapter 22. Understand

* * *

**

He blinked a few times before he gave a response. "Excuse me?" he muttered softly, still taking his time to process it through.

It was one of the elders who spoke this time. "Unfortunately, according to your father's will, you must be twenty before you can access any of your family's money. It states, 'under _no_ special circumstances are my sons allowed to gain access to the Uchiha's wealth until they are of age – twenty'. And so on," the old man said, looking up at the dumbfounded Uchiha.

"You're telling me that I have _no_ money at all? That I have a freaking huge house, a grocery list, a _baby_ and no money?!" Sasuke's rage was still growing and not as silently as one may have hoped. He gritted his teeth and his knuckles were white. He breathed in and out slowly. He leaned his head to the side, cracking his neck and opening his mouth to speak. "You do know how costly diapers are, right? And you do realize I've been paying for them, _right_?"

The two elders slightly parted their lips, ready to speak. "Uh, we were unaware of that," one of them said.

"I did," Tsunade murmured, sipping from her alcohol beverage – she received a scowl from the two next to her when they realized she was drinking on the job. "That's why I decided that all of the money you've used up until this point won't be affected and you won't have to pay it all back. However, you now need a job and learn how to live like _regular_ civilians with decent money and pay. Aren't you glad that I'm not making you pay back over ten years worth of expenses?" She forced a smile.

Nevertheless, her statement just added to more anger to the fuming Sasuke. He kept still for the majority of the time, only glaring back at the three in front of him.

Tsunade took his opportunity to continue speaking. "You also have many other options. First, you could do some D-rank missions, which will also take affect on your probation requirements. That way, you'll get paid plus tips. We will make sure Sakura is aware of –"

"No," Sasuke interrupted.

They all looked up at him questioningly.

"Don't tell her," Sasuke muttered, "That will just stress her out..I'll figure out a way to solve this."

Tsunade took another sip. "Very well."

* * *

"Good morning, baby," Sakura cheerfully greeted her infant, picking her up from her crib. "How was your nap?" She gave a peck on the rosy cheeks before walking across the room.

She passed the large pile of envelopes, all marked red. Frowning, Sakura sighed at the thought of paying the monthly bills. Despite living in one of the cheapest apartments in the village, she still had a bit of trouble paying her fees.

Before, Sakura had a number of jobs, helping her pay for her groceries and other bills, but because of her new busy life, Sakura had already quitted teaching at the academy and limited her number of missions outside of the village. She strictly followed the daily routine of only going to the hospital, so she could spend more time with the baby.

Also, she had to pay for her baby's essentials, along with the daycare that provided watch for the girl when everyone was too occupied to babysit for her; she was thankful that Sasuke was willing to pay for the baby food and diapers as they were truly costly.

Sumi's squirming interrupted her thoughts.

Sakura set the girl on the changing table. She unbuttoned the bottom flap of her clothes, tossing away the diaper and reaching over for the bag. Biting her lower lip, Sakura gave an exhale through her nose. "Shoot, we're almost out of diapers," she muttered to herself, but turned to the laughing baby. "Well, why don't we go visit your daddy? I should be getting my paycheck soon, anyway, so I can pay him back."

After changing diapers, Sakura pulled out the stroller. She gently placed her daughter inside and headed off.

* * *

Breaking the wall of silence that was built over an hour ago, Naruto held his empty bowl out and said, "Get me another bowl, teme!"

Sasuke gave a scowl, but grabbed the bowl and handed Naruto another one of Ichiraku's beef special. The man turned around and wiped the counter tops. He was secretly glad that the owner was willing to let him work part-time at the stand.

"_Anything for the best friend of my best customer!"_ he remembered Ichiraku saying.

"So," Naruto spoke up, "when are you going to tell Sakura you work here? It's been over a week and she doesn't suspect a thing." He stopped talking momentarily to finish what may be his fourth bowl. "I mean, the other day when I saw her, she yelled at me since you came to her house smelling like ramen and she thought I was taking you out here too much. To tell you the truth, she actually made it sound like you two were married or something," he joked.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "I'll tell her eventually. You know how she gets, worrying and whatnot." He knew the answer would be understandable to the blond. He rested his elbows on the counter; it was still early morning, so there weren't that many customers. He eagerly watched the ticking clock on the side as the minute hand made its way to the end of Sasuke's shift.

"So what do you have planned after this?" Naruto asked. "Sakura normally comes out at this time if she's not working, so I assume it's not going to be in any place where the eyes can see?"

"Hn," Sasuke said, parting his lips to give an exhale. "I'm doing those D-ranked missions to get a bit of pay and hours for my probation."

Naruto nodded. He casually turned his head to the side when his baby blue eyes widened. "Sakura," he quickly stated.

"What?"

"Sakura!"

"Shoot," Sasuke muttered. "What the hell do I do?" He attempted to duck, but realized she would easily see him and if he escaped to the back, he'd get fired.

All of a sudden, he heard a small tinging noise that momentarily caught his attention.

"Alright, shift's over," Ayame said and walked over to Sasuke's area. "Good job today."

Automatically, Sasuke tossed his apron to the side and naturally sat down to the right of Naruto.

Luckily, Sakura turned the corner, so she never noticed the two sitting there.

"Phew, that was a close one," Naruto sighed, turning over to his best friend who seemed to be deeply focused on something else. "...Sasuke?" he called again, but Sasuke merely stood, leaving the stand.

* * *

"Oh, Sasuke!" Sakura called out, pushing the stroller a bit quicker than her usual pace. "I was just looking for you.

"Hn, what?" Sasuke spat out, seemingly more rude than normal. He continued walking towards his home and heard Sakura follow.

"Uh, I was wondering," she started, stepping into the Uchiha's entrance, "if you could loan me some money. My paycheck's not coming for another week and I need a bit of money for Sumi's diapers. I promise I'll pay you ba–"

"I don't have any on me at the moment," Sasuke interrupted, not realizing what he was saying.

Sakura was puzzled. "Excuse me?" She furrowed her brows, tilting her head to the side.

"I said I don't have money with me now. I'm sure you have some saved up," he said as if he was forcing her to leave.

"I do – a bit – but I was planning to–" Her eyes shifted to behind Sasuke's head and into his home. "Wait, Sasuke, where's your couch?"

Sasuke wasn't sure which would hurt Sakura more. Telling her to back off or stressing her out with debt problems. After all, Sakura was too kind and would obviously forget about herself. She would probably try to help Sasuke instead.

"I sold it. I'm buying a new couch. That's why I don't have money on me right now."

Sakura's mouth slightly moved, but she remained quiet. Nodding, she turned the baby's stroller around. "Oh, okay," she said quietly, almost in a whisper. "I understand." And with that, she left.

* * *

**It's a few thousand words shorter than usual, but I felt like ending it there. Please review and I'll try to update soon**


	23. Mastermind

**Pairing: Sasuke and Sakura, of course.**

**Disclaimer: How many months has it been since I last updated? Anywhoo, no changes since then. Still don't own.**

**Chapter 23. Mastermind**

* * *

The man behind the desk stared into Sakura's eyes intensely. "Like I said, you'll have to pay more if you wish to withdraw from this account."

Sakura gave a scowl. "What do you mean I have to pay more? The whole point of withdrawing the money is for me to get money. I don't have any money!"

The banker rolled his eyes. "But you account is supposed to be left untouched – like you agreed when you made it – for a number of years before you can open it."

"Fine." Angered, Sakura stormed out of the building with her whimpering child. She cradled the infant in her arms, lulling her until she fell asleep. "I'm sorry I tried to take money out of your account, Sumi," she muttered. She sighed, trying to remember specifically how many diapers were left in the package at home and determining how long it would last.

Sakura looked up to the clouded skies. "100, 200, 3....Since I've stopped going on missions and working at the academy, I've only been working at the hospital," she muttered to herself, "my pay isn't as high as it used to be.. And the bills are increasing...I guess I should ask for my paycheck a little early." She gently placed the baby into the stroller again and pushed it towards the Hokage Tower.

When she arrived, there were people willing to help her push the stroller up the stairs.

"She'll be with you in a minute," Shizune said.

Sakura smiled in response and as she waited for Tsunade, her eyes scanned the area. The sight of two guards caught her attention as they jokingly hit the other's arm during their conversation.

"I can't believe it. That rich bastard is finally broke," the man said through a laugh. "I bet a whole load of karma is still on it's way."

Perplexed, Sakura's head tilted to the right and her body leaned in. She wondered who they were talking about.

"Damn, I still can't believe that he got back into the village so easily."

Her eyebrows began to furrow as pieces started to fit together in her head. Her legs stretched out and she stood up, taking silent steps towards the hallway in front of her; the guards, however, didn't seem to realize that she was listening into their conversation.

"Yeah, I mean, if I were the Hokage, the Uchiha would've been dead on the spot!"

"Sakura?"

Both the aforementioned name and the two guards looked up – the men frowned, finding out that the girl had been listening to them and quickly left the area in case they had said something that would get them into trouble.

The pink headed girl, however, remained motionless as she thought back to the conversation of the two guards. "He's...selling his couch...he refused to give me money...No wonder," she breathed out.

Quickly, she turned around, facing the older woman. "Sasuke's broke?" She questioned.

* * *

"Ah-hem," Sasuke cleared his throat, catching the woman's attention. He stood rather awkwardly in the middle of the muddy field. "I'm Sasuke Uch– "

"I know who you are," the large woman interrupted. Her bulky arms were crossed and she sternly glared at him. Her thick eyebrows were low, darkening her small eyes even more. She confidently stood still for the next few minutes.

Suddenly, she pointed out to the large barn behind her. "Spring's coming. You know what happens when spring is here?" She refused to wait for the Uchiha to make any sort of sound. "Customers. For meat, cows, pigs, chickens. I need that cleaned so my animals can be healthy, big, strong, and delicious. You better do a good job or I'm not goin' to pay ya. I don't care what the Hokage says, you're lucky I'm even letting you step foot on my farm."

"Aa," Sasuke said. It wasn't until the large woman left that he visualized the old barn that was as worn down as the building he encountered Sakura half a year ago. There were large wooden beams that needed to be removed in order reach the ends of the barn.

Sasuke turned around, finding an empty bucket and filling it with water from the pumps. He began scrubbing the fenceposts near the entrance and removing the dirt and mold. As time past by, paranoia started to rub on the Uchiha. He would occasionally wonder about harsh he was with Sakura and Sumi, but the thought of rodent creatures within the barn terrified him more. He had never been on a farm, so most of things he was seeing disgusted him.

He had spent the next few hours sweeping, scrubbing and wondering when it was all going to end. Sasuke had tried not to think about it, not looking outside to see if the sun had set. He also didn't complain about the cold either. After all, Sasuke had been through much worse.

"Oh crap," he muttered when he noticed that he had stepped in a pile of manure. But soon after scraping his shoes and making the barn look as clean as it could get, the Uchiha stepped out, happily taking a breath of fresh air.

"So you're finally done?" It was the barn-lady. She had her hands on her hips. "Took you long enough." She dropped her arms and reached to the purse that sat on her porch and catching Sasuke's attention.

Finally, he would get the money he deserved and he had never been happier to see cash. At last, he could understand why there were idiots running in the middle of the day with bags of money and trying to escape a herd of people. In a way, he felt like one of them – feeling the need to get the money, no matter where it came from. He felt even worse knowing that half of his daughter's expenses depended on him.

After the woman got the money, Sasuke reached his palm out. However, he watched as the money dropped past his hand and onto the soggy ground.

"Damn Uchiha," the woman muttered before turning around back into her house.

"Hn," he muttered before giving a long sigh. He shut his eyes momentarily and it wasn't until he felt the raindrops pouring down on his cheek. Sasuke bent down and placed his muddy fingers onto the dirt by the valuable piece of paper. His jaw tightened as he counted how much he had really earned compared to his many hours of work.

But then the rain stopped, even though he could still it against the surfaces around him. Remaining in his position, Sasuke looked up to see a grinning Sakura with an umbrella in her hand.

"Sumi's with Shizune right now. And you're wet. And I'm sorry," she said, bending down so that her eyes met his. "I'm sorry that I'm a worrier. I'm sorry that you thought I would hurt myself more if I knew. I'm sorry," she lifted up his one hand and held onto it tightly, "that you had to get your hands all muddy."

"Hn," his eyes averted from Sakura, somewhat embarrassed. Without looking, he released his hand from hers and grabbed the money from the ground. Pressing his lips together, the man suppressed a sigh. "What kind of man doesn't let his son have the money at eighteen?" He muttered. "Why freaking twenty?!"

Sakura's grin fell and she pursed her lips. Her arm lifted and she patted him on the shoulder. "We'll work it out. I mean, you're getting better each day as a father and I have many tips on how to survive with average pay." She gave a laugh and helped him stand up.

"Aa. Let's go."

* * *

"Cheers!" The Hokage raised her glass in the air. "To Shizune who did all the paper work...and to our mastermind, Shikamaru. Thanks to him and his idea of Sasuke going broke...Sasuke thinks there was a will left behind by his father..Sakura's panicking about her bills and they will live happily ever after..._together_. It'll all work out eventually, those two."

* * *

**Still in writer's block, but at least I updated right? Anyway, please review. It'll be a _big_ encouragement for me and my updates.**


	24. Too Much

A/N: "Mastermind", the previous chapter. A few of you didn't understand what the ending of it meant, so I thought I'd clarify. What the ending meant was that even though they told Sasuke several chapters back that his father left a will stating Sasuke can't inherit his money until he's 20, and therefore, being 18 currently, he becomes poor. However, the ending of the last chapter just means that it was Shikamaru's plan to do all that, none of it is true, but Sasuke fell for it and that Shikamaru and Tsunade are just doing that to get Sasuke and Sakura together. Yup. :)

**Pairing: Hints...of some pairings...Yeah. :D**

**Disclaimer: No. Unfortunately.**

**Chapter 24. Too Much**

**

* * *

**Naruto felt like he was being ignored. There he sat, going through his wedding plans and needing help from his two best friends. Unfortunately, they had other things on their mind.

"Instead of you paying to the daycare, I could just watch her during your hospital shift," the Uchiha suggested.

"True," Sakura replied, biting the top of her pen, "and then when I'm done work, I could just come to pick her up and you can go work."

"Aa."

The blond in between the two gave an exaggerated sigh. "Oh don't worry guys, I can work this myself," he muttered loudly, but the obvious hint didn't affect Sasuke or Sakura. His baby blue eyes gazed down at the large seating plan, half done by Hinata who knew all the prestigious clans who were coming. She left their friends, however, to be seated by Naruto.

"I don't need a television. I can sell that." Sasuke decided and quickly wrote that note down.

Naruto's eyes showed frustration as he realized he didn't even send out half of his wedding invitations. _Why does Hinata trust me with this much of the wedding plans? And why couldn't we have a summer wedding?_

"Me too! I'm too busy anyway to be watching TV – oh but wait... Sumi likes to watch some of those kiddie shows."

The blond felt like a child in the middle of his parents' divorce.

"You could sell your stereo. I doubt you're going to be having parties anyti – "

"Sakura! Teme! I know both of you have your problems, but I'm dying here too. Why don't you two just move in together, since obviously teme has the room in his house and he's clearly asexual anyway, so you don't have to be afraid of the guy peeping at you when you're in the shower– "

"_What_?"

" –Sakura, you could leave your apartment so you don't have to pay rent; teme has no couch, Sakura has a couch; teme can sell his TV, Sakura can keep hers and put it in teme's living room and then teme and Sakura could help Naruto – _me_ – with his and Hinata's wedding, which is in a month! A MONTH!"

The two remainder in the room who weren't panting heavy breaths stared at the blond, both with jaw dropping faces.

"I guess so," Sakura began, "I mean, if it's okay with Sasuke, that is." She looked over to the man who nodded agreeably.

"..Aa." His icy eyes trailed back to the blond who was still stressing over his missing wedding invitations. "Who knew the dobe actually _thinks_ when he's stressed out."

The cherry headed girl gave a giggle. "Yeah, thanks, Naruto. And stop hyperventilating. Sasuke will get you some instant noodles to calm down, and I know these people well, so I can seat them. Oh and your invitations aren't missing – you're sitting on them."

* * *

"This will be your room. Mine's just down this hall, so if anything comes up, you can just get me," Sasuke said monotonously as he directed Sakura around the house. "We could sell one of the cribs, since I have one and you have two." He paused, "Why do you have two anyway?"

Sakura shrugged. "I move around a lot in my house. Speaking of cribs, I'm thinking that there should be one in the living room and one in her own room, of course."

"Aa."

"Thanks, Sasuke. I can unpack everything from here."

The man nodded, leaving the house for work. "Make yourself at home," he yelled out.

"Thanks," Sakura called back. But as she moved around the house, she found everything much more grotesque than she thought it was. Despite helping Sasuke clean the building just a few months ago, the place was an exact duplicate of Naruto's – or was it because Naruto came here so often that it was like that?

The dishes had to be washed, costing Sakura an hour and a half of her unpacking time. Bewildered by the mountain of dishes, Sakura soon found an overflowing trash can, composed of noodle cups, which she assumed were all Naruto's.

Making her way to the washroom where she could put her toiletries, Sakura opened the cupboard. "Oh my G– " Sakura shrieked, finding shaving cream spilled all over. "Gross, gross, gross," she repeated while wiping the cabinetry and organizing everything.

The pinkette reached into her bag, spraying the washroom with her lavender scented spray.

Making her way to the room in between her's and Sasuke's, she made sure that the crib was well adjusted, curtains were up and that the place was dust free. She piled the mountain of stuff toys in the corner, placing a rocking chair adjacent to it.

"Ah, perfection!" She breathed out in content.

* * *

"Holy crap!" Naruto held his foot back. "What the hell happened to your house? It's..It's – " Even though he could sense the monstrous man behind him, the blond couldn't help but stare at it himself: the satin curtains, the fuchsia rug, cooking utensils placed neatly in a flowery mug on the kitchen counter.

"Hn," Sasuke murmured. He gave a deep exhale, mentally preparing himself. He took slowed steps into his home, scanning the living room one more time before making his way into the hallways with Naruto trailing behind him. "She better not have –"

"Teme, look at your washroom. And smell it." Naruto took a big sniff around area, leading his nose towards the cabinetry. "Something strange is in here," he muttered.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "It's probably her perfume or something." The maturer one of the two calmly climbed over and pulled onto the knob. When the containers inside were revealed, he and his teammate studied it.

"That's a lot of perfume, teme," Naruto stated. "And a lot of pink."

"Hn, it's not just perfume. There's lotion too."

"Hey, what's that?"

"I don't know. Deodorant?"

"Why does it have a nozzle for spraying?"

"Hn, who knows?" Sasuke's eyes continued to wander. He yanked onto the shower curtain, inspecting the bathtub, which seemed perfectly normal. Turning around, he forced himself to go into his bedroom. He gave a sigh of relief when he realized Sakura hadn't touch his room. However, it only pushed him further. Skipping the baby's room, which he assumed was just as feminine as the air, he went into the dining room.

There, Sasuke could see a lacy table cloth, dressing the wooden table. In the middle, were scented candles next to a vase with daffodils – whether they were real or not, he couldn't tell. Before he could go into his kitchen and see what type of utensils and food Sakura invaded it with, both he and Naruto turned to the front door where a rattling noise could be heard.

"Hi, guys – Wow, I love what you've done to the place!" It was Ino. On one side of her arm was Neji and on the other was Shikamaru. Temari and Sakura was safely behind them with the baby in her arms. "We're meeting Hinata and Tenten at the bridal shop, so obviously Naruto can't come and see the bride in her wedding dress!" Her voice was a high pitch, full of excitement.

"Why are we here then?" The Hyuuga asked grumpily.

"Well, I think you two need more practice dealing with babies, cause you're getting married to Tenten. Oh and Shikamaru, I'm pregnant."

"_What_?"

"Hey, Blondie, I was supposed to announce that I was pregnant first," the other blond, Temari, shouted from behind.

Ignoring her husband's curses, Ino continued, "Anyway, so the four of you guys are going to babysit Sumi while we go find some bridesmaid dresses and a wedding dress!"

Stepping into the room, Sakura placed her daughter into the crib "Don't worry," she assured. "Ino's exaggerating. They all know my size, so they're going to get the dress for me. I'm staying here," she said while flashing a smile.

Her blond friend rolled her eyes. "Sakura, we said we'd get your dress for you, but only if you lay down and rest. You've been working all day. That is why I told you four," she pointed at the male group, "to babysit the baby while Sakura goes to sleep. Got it? Good! Now Sakura, go to bed."

"She's right," Naruto said. "Sakura, you should go to sleep or something. You look tired."

"We can watch Sumi for you," Shikamaru offered.

Sighing in relief, Sakura said, "Thanks."

* * *

The four men sat silently in the living room, either staring at the blank ceiling or at the sleeping baby.

"Well," Naruto broke the silence, "at least she's asleep."

"Ino's having a baby," the laziest one moaned, "Temari's having a baby...How did this happen? And once my parents find out, my mother will want more grandchildren."

Naruto gave a loud chuckled. "That's what you get for being a pimp." He rested his back against the dining room chair. Giving another exaggerated sigh, he wondered how it all came to this – the males of Konoha's twelve, getting married and forced to live through these dire situations. As much as he was happy today, he somewhat missed the old days when no one could tell him what to do, especially a certain Hyuuga**: **Neji (along with his future father-in-law).

The blond glanced over to his teammate who laid peacefully on the sofa. He had been asleep ever since he decided to ignore Neji's complaint and set his body on the only couch in the house

Suddenly, the infant started bawling, startling the men.

"Oh my God, what do we do, what do we do?" Naruto panicked.

Neji stood by the crib, staring at the baby intensely. "Hmm..There's something troubling her," he analyzed.

"Some prodigy you are," the Nara clansman murmured lazily. "Check her diapers or something."

Neji's ponytail hair flipped to the side as he turned to face Shikamaru. "I am _not_ going to change her diapers. Nara, you're the one who's going to have two children in less than a year, go change her diapers."

Shikamaru gave a sigh, annoyed by Naruto's constant yammering and confusion and Neji's command. "I would, but the crib is just too far."

"Where are the diapers? What do we do?" Naruto ran around in circles, certainly unfit for the situation. "What if we do a horrible job with the baby? Sakura will get mad and won't help me with the wedding anymore!"

Startlingly, the Uchiha slowly got up from rest. Getting up, he made his way over to the couch and picked up the crying girl, who stopped weeping the moment she was held. "Dobe, shut up or you'll wake Sakura. And go get the milk from the fridge; she's just hungry."

"Got it!" The other teammate quickly made his way to the kitchen.

In the mean time, Sasuke patted his daughters back, soothing her as she gurgled and squirmed. His eyes slowly moved over to the side, noting Neji studying his fatherly manner .

"You're," Neji began, speculating on a theory.

Sasuke blinked. "I'm what, exactly?" He spat out, raising a brow. He tilted his chin upwards, showing power over the Hyuuga and his stare tried to keep him from thinking anything further.

"Pretty good at this baby stuff."

Sasuke nodded. "I've babysat before," he mentioned.

"I see...Nevermind," Neji said, shaking his head. "It's impossible," he murmured to himself.

Running from the kitchen, Naruto paced with the bottle in his hand. "Here it is!"

The three others glued their eyes on the object in Naruto's hand and gave a disappointing sigh.

"It's frozen," Shikamaru stated. "You have to heat it up."

"Idiot," Neji called out. He grabbed the bottle from Naruto's hand. "I'll do it."

Several moments later, the man got back, "Here. It's heated." He handed the bottle to Sasuke who responded by dropping the bottle and frowned.

"_You're_ the idiot," he muttered. "It's boiling hot! What did you do?" He placed the baby back in the crib and picked the bottle from the ground.

The Hyuuga shrugged. "I microwaved it. It's more efficient that way."

"Neji, you're not supposed to microwave baby bottles," Shikamaru said through a small chuckle. "I'll do it." Luckily, the third time was a charm as Shikamaru came back with the milk at a perfect temperature – he dropped several drops on his inner wrist before handing it to Sasuke.

The men all watched as Sasuke bottle-fed the girl, who after being fed, squirmed around until the Uchiha knowingly grabbed the pacifier and placed it in her mouth.

"Damn," Naruto muttered. "Sasuke's a dad," he paused to look at the man's reaction, "not literally, of course." He gave a wavering chuckle, which died down. Glancing over to the bottle that Neji had spoiled and then over to the bottle, which Shikamaru heated perfectly, Naruto gave a sigh. "Do you think, that if Neji's dad had lived, and my dad had stayed, or lived, or whatever happened to him, do you think that we'd be better at this?"

The other three turned to look at Naruto, all figuring it out in their head.

"No," Sasuke merely stated. "My dad wasn't an actual dad with me. Just Itachi got that side of him."

Neji and Shikamaru agreed.

"It's one of those things where the women have instincts and the men have to learn it," the Nara said. "And Neji's just bad at this because he's probably never done anything outside of training before."

The Hyuuga rolled his eyes as Naruto gave a chuckle, somewhat relieved.

* * *

As Sasuke shut the door, he turned around to see the mess that his friends had left. As he was picking up sheets, the man heard a phone ringing. Before he could pick it up, however, he heard the muffled voice within Sakura's room.

Following that, said girl came out of her room with a worried look on her face.

"What's wrong?" Sasuke questioned.

Sakura merely shrugged. "I don't..know, um, how was Sumi? Were there any troubles?"

The Uchiha shook his head. "No, the only trouble was just typical Naru – "

"It was a friend – an old friend..He, uh, lives in the same village as my mo– she, _her_ – um, Mrs. Haruno?" Sakura stuttered out multiple words, unsure of what to say. When the words had collected at the tip of her tongue, she said, "She's sick or dying..Or something. She's admitted to the hospital and they –well, some of them – want me there to see if I could do anything, cause the doctors aren't sure what to do."

"Aa," Sasuke murmured, "are you leaving?"

Her body clenched. "I don't know."

* * *

**Yeah...This chapter is just a bunch of things I wanted to put all into one..Some scenes are pretty rushed, I know and I'm sorry.**

**Update for next chapter will come by in exactly two weeks. Please review, and thank you to all who reviewed the last one. :)  
**


	25. What We Wanted

**Disclaimer: Don't own.**

**A/N: My most favourite chapter to write. I'm not sure when I'll be able to update again, but the length is a lot longer than usual, which should compensate for the delay in update.**

**Chapter 25. What We Wanted**

_She watched as man furiously yell at her; his arms flung into the air as he spoke and his legs were knotted from circling around the living room too many times. Tears tried to escape her apple-green eyes. The young girl's body tightened._

_Her eyes averted to her worrisome mother, who was stressing in the back corner of the room on the chair. "Mom?" She begged for someone to help fend off her father._

_But the older woman only shook her head, similar to that of her father's reaction. "Who's the father? Is it that Naruto-boy? Neji? Tell me, Sakura." Her sweet, motherly voice had dissipated._

_Sakura's mouth slightly opened. Her words came out stutteringly, "I was on a mission and I .."_

_Truthfully, she didn't want to admit that it was Sasuke. She had told Tsunade just the week before, but that was because the woman assured Sakura nothing would happen if she didn't want it. But with her parents, it would be a whole different story; the public would instantly know and so many clan leaders who would oppose to this. She didn't want Sasuke to be hunted down by her parents and whoever else they could convince. She also didn't want people to take her baby away if they found out it was an Uchiha._

"_You what?" Her father questioned._

"_I met someone," she forced the words out in response. "I-I don't know his name."_

_Her parents stared at her with the utmost disbelief._

"_Sakura Haruno! We did not raise you to be a __**whore**__! And we most definitely will not have our grandchild be a bast– "_

"_Dad!" She pushed the words out of her mouth with impossible strength. Her cheeks, she could feel, were getting wetter by the minute."Mom...I thought you two would support me – help me!"_

_Suddenly, she heard her mother release a sigh as she spoke up. "Well then..what are you planning to do? Are you going to abort it?"_

_Without even questioning herself, Sakura replied, "No."_

"_Are you going to give it up for adoption? Sakura, please tell me you're going to give up this baby. Have you thought about all the bills we have to pay off. Do you realize how expensive a baby is?"_

"_You're telling me to give up my baby?" Sakura exclaimed. "We have more than enough money –_ I_ have the money!"_

"_And there is no reason to lose that money!" Her mother yelled back._

_She gulped down all that was left in her. "You're telling me you're choosing money over a life, mom?" She then turned to her dad. "And dad, you want a regular, respectable household, right?" She didn't wait until her parents reply. Turning around, she planned to head out the door to get fresh air._

"_Sakura," her father spoke up, causing the seventeen year old to freeze._

_She momentarily turned around._

_Blankly, he stated with a deep sigh, "Get out of my house."_

"_That's what I'm doin – "_

"_No, I mean go pack up."_

_Her mother in the background gasped. "Takashi," she called out to her husband. "What are you doing?"_

"_Sakura, you said so earlier. You obviously have the money for this. You clearly want to keep this illegitimate child; you're a disgrace to the Haruno family, so I want you to leave."_

_Shocked, Sakura's legs went numb. Her tears fell as she watched her insensitive father face his back towards her. Managing to swallow her entire life down, she said, "Fine. I guess by gaining a child, I lose my family. I'll go pack my things now."_

* * *

"Sakura?"

She could feel someone nudge her. Fluttering her eyelids, she found Sasuke in her view. "Huh?" she yawned, moving her eyes to the side. "Oh, crap. I forgot to cook dinner." The adult girl jumped from her bed in a hurry. "I'm so sorry, Sasuke!"

"Hn," Sasuke grunted. "I reheated some of the left overs and cooked some meat."

Slowing her body down, Sakura sighed in relief. "Oh, thanks."

He stared back with the most uncertainty. However, he didn't bother to ask, exiting the room. He led them to the dining room.

The two ate silently and only the sounds of chopsticks clashing with the dishes could be heard.

Sakura's thoughts, however, were the exact opposite. She couldn't think straight, flipping her dream in her mind over and over again. As if she had a sixth sense, she felt Sasuke's presence staring at her, so her eyes moved upwards to meet his.

"What is your plan?"

Sakura gulped down her food. "What plan?"

"Your mother. She's sick, Sakura."

"She's not my mother," Sakura quickly replied. "She disowned me and I disowned the Haruno name. We're not related."

The two continued with their meal, before the Uchiha felt the need to speak up again.

"Aa. You're right. She abandoned you, so I don't blame you for not going there. It's still your job as a medic though."

The rosette didn't respond. "It's not like they're hiring me. And what about work? If I go, I'll probably miss out on a lot of work hours and clearly we need the money."

He looked up at her. "Since when has money been more important than family– "

That statement caused the girl to freeze both mentally and physically. Her hand slowly placed the utensil back down onto the table. "I thought you just agreed that she isn't my family?" She said monotonously.

"'Haruno' is still the name on your birth certificate and on our daughter's birth certificate. You can't ignore that, Sakura."

Instead of a comeback, Sakura felt a tug pulling her lips. Getting up, she collected the empty dishes and carried them to the sink. It wasn't until she turned on the tap that Sasuke spoke up again.

"What are you smiling about?"

Her smile somewhat grew as she scrubbed the plates. "You called Sumi _our_ daughter."

The Uchiha rolled his eyes. "Hn. She _is_ though."

"I know.. I just like it when you say that." Her voice died down and it wasn't until the two finished cleaning up that she added, "Thanks, Sasuke."

* * *

"_Dr. Sakura, please meet in room 1-207. Dr. Sakura, room 1-207." The speakers called out, rushing the pregnant girl._

'_Alright, alright,' Sakura thought. Her steps somewhat quickened as she made her way through the hallways. Her shift had just ended, and even though she thought she had enough time to grab some snacks along the way, apparently her teacher didn't think so._

_Upon meeting with Tsunade for her appointment (she was going to get an ultrasound to check the baby's health), Sakura passed by a room filled with the most strangest aura. She took a few steps back, peaking at the side of the window._

_Inside, was a couple. The woman held her infant baby in her arms, talking happily to her husband who gazed back at his newborn in a loving manner._

_Sakura's body tightened. Looking down at the small bump on her belly, she said to herself, "I guess it's just you and me." She continued down the hallway and knew that clearly, she envied the happy family._

* * *

The sound of her daughter's cries startled Sakura and she got up. It was another sleepless night for the kunoichi as she made her way into the room next door. "Sumi," she moaned. "Can't you let mommy sleep just _one_ night?" Her hands gently budged the door.

"I think she's hungry."

Again, Sakura jumped at the sound of the voice. "Oh, you're quick," she muttered when she saw Sasuke already in the room trying to hush the baby.

It had only been a week since they had moved in with each other and Sasuke's physical appearance was clearly taking it's toll. He was getting less and less sleep and more and more stressed with his new schedule – he just hadn't adapted to it yet.

"Take her." He passed the infant onto Sakura who was already sitting on the rocking chair.

"Go back to sleep, Sasuke," the girl commanded.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

Sakura watched as he tiredly left the room. Her eyes wandered down, studying the hungry child and how content she looked. "You look just like your dad, you know that? I'm sure you're going to grow up to be just like him." Sakura momentarily paused to look at the door that Sasuke had just left. "Your mom and dad might not stay together for very long, but we're still a family. Okay, Sumi?"

* * *

"_Sakura!" Ino cried the moment she saw her best friend get wheeled into the hospital. The woman was bawling her eyes out, holding onto her belly._

"_Ino, help me!" Sakura cried. "I-I, I slipped on my laces down the stairs and I don't know if I hurt the baby or-or, I tried to heal myself, but I d-don't – I just don't know!"_

_The blond quickly alerted nearby nurses who went on a rushed search for the Hokage or to find someone from the maternity ward. "Sakura, calm. Just breathe, everything will be okay!"_

"_Ino, I laid at the bottom of the stairs for over an hour before I got help. I can't move my legs and I – "_

_Her friend tried not to look so horrified and scared. She followed the interns who pushed Sakura into the room. "Sakura, everything will be okay. Your baby will be fine and so will you. We'll do an ultrasound, just to check, okay?"_

"_Okay."_

* * *

She wrapped the towel around her body as she got out of her shower. Her hair dripped continuously as she cleared the fogged up mirror. Taking a step towards the pile of clothes she had laid out on the counter, her foot twisted as she stepped on a puddle.

With a yelp, the girl luckily had time to respond, keeping the distance between the corner of the counter and her head with her arms.

"Sakura?" A voice came from outside the bathroom. "Are you okay?"

It surprised her how quick Sasuke reacted to that incident. Even he could tell that, that little scream was just from something as little as a slip. In response, she nodded, but realizing how foolish that was, she called out, "Yeah. I think I twisted my ankle though." One foot raised in the air as she donned on her clothes.

She carefully hopped out of the room where Sasuke stood.

He grabbed one of her arms and placed it around his neck, leading her to a seat. "Does it hurt?"

The woman shook her head. "Just a little ache, but I'm fine. I've gone through worse, you know?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. His mouth was formed into a line, so Sakura couldn't read his thoughts. "Are you sure?"

She nodded. "Yeah. You don't have to worry so much, Sasuke."

"Hn." He averted his eyes from her. "Even the smallest things can end up big, Sakura."

Her body suddenly felt at peace and safe. "Yeah, I know. Thanks, Sasuke." She looked down, watching her foot move small inches.

"What?"

"I don't think I can move my foot that well..Maybe you should get the groceries." She gave a loud laugh when Sasuke grumbled.

* * *

_She refused to go on maternity leave until the last minute. The busy working girl rushed from one room to the other throughout the entire hospital. Everywhere she went, coworkers watched her in awe, proud of her strength and shocked at how big her abdomen had gotten over the last few months._

"_Get this to Doctor – whoa." Sakura froze the moment she stretched the files to the intern. She clutched onto her stomach wide-eyed._

"_Miss Sakura?" The woman across from her glanced at her worryingly. "I-Is everything alright?"_

_The hormones that raged in her body caused her to twitch her body upwards. "Does it look alright? No! My water just broke so you better get me the – ow!"_

_The intern's body hastened. "Don't worry, I'll get the Hokage right away," the innocent newbie quickly turned around to get the phone._

_Sakura rolled her eyes in disbelief. "What? You're just going to let me stand here? Get me a freakin' wheelchair or something," she yelled out, forcing the student to turn back around, and muttered, "idiot." The adult woman turned around to face nearby nurses. "Hey, one of you! Don't just stand there, get the Hokage!"_

_A wheelchair was hurriedly rushed by a sweaty looking medical intern, which pushed Sakura towards the maternity ward while others ran around the building trying to contact Tsunade._

"_You have got to be kidding me, the baby is a whole week early!?" Sakura furiously yelled as she was placed onto the bed. She dialed onto her phone several times, trying to contact her friends. "Hi, Shizune? I'm in labour right now," she gave a sarcastic sweetness as she spoke, "and I was wondering..where the hell are Naruto and Ino?" There was a brief pause. "I see...And Kakashi?...Even Hinata and Temari...Well, how about Te– oh. I see. Thanks..." Her voice faltered as she hung up the phone; there was a deep ache in her chest._

_Her green eyes trailed to the door the moment her teacher came into the room. She forced an upwards arch from her mouth. "I guess everyone's out on missions," she casually said as she placed the phone aside. _

_Her teacher stared back at her. "Sakura... I'm not sure if you think this, but I am your teacher and I also consider myself to be family; I'll be here," the woman sat down on the seat to give a check. "And you're not allowed a phone in here."_

"_Thanks..." The kunoichi tried to prevent herself from showing the pain that spread across her face. "These contractions are as bad as I heard, huh?"_

_Her teacher shrugged. "I wouldn't know, but considering you're almost in tears, I guess they are." The blond stood back up, removing her gloves and sat down by her student's head. "You're not completely ready for the delivery room yet, Sakura. We might have to wait a while."_

_The pinkette nodded, wincing at the pain. She held her head up strong to study the empty bed across from her's, but her knuckles grew white from clutching the cream coloured blanket. There was a unique sparkle that came across Sakura's face, one that hadn't been on there since the day her parents left town. _

"_Does it hurt?" Tsunade asked, putting her arm around Sakura's shoulder to comfort her. When she received no reply, the woman realized the other kind of pain Sakura was in._

"_Is it selfish?" Sakura breathed out, lifting her fingers slowly to wipe the tears away. "To want him to be here? Because I do, I do want Sasuke to be here and help me go through this. I want him to be okay with me having his baby and I want him to love the baby as much as I do... I want the life I always pictured when I was a kid, Shishou.. I want him to love _me_. " She leaned her head back against the silver barred headboard. Her eyes squeezed shut to keep herself from crying any further. _

_The older woman stared back at Sakura with a consoling face. Her smile was enough to assure the rosette. "No... no, it's not selfish. And I know," she brushed her fingers through the thick pink locks. "I know how hard it feels to know that nothing will ever be as you imagined it to be. But you just have to hope for the best of things, because you will be happy."_

_As Sakura held her belly unresponsively, the corner of her eyes watched the Hokage give her a quick check again._

"_You're ready for the delivery room."_

_And the girl's heart raced._

* * *

Sakura watched as the Uchiha started the fire in the fireplace. Her arms cradled the infant girl and she sat on the only couch they didn't sell. Her eyes quickly averted onto her setting.

The house, despite so big, was so empty. Never would she have thought that the Uchiha house would be so abandoned. The walls were supposed to have fine paintings and the shelves were supposed to be filled with family photos.

Her body shifted slightly when Sasuke sat down next to her. Sakura wondered what he was thinking about; he just watched the fire dance in its setting.

"Is life like you ever imagined it to be?" Her voice squeaked slightly, so she cleared her throat.

"Hn," he grunted, only to buy him some time to think. "No."

There was an unimaginable feeling that twisted around in her stomach, which forced her to speak up again. Though in reality, she was scared as to what she might hear, "What did you imagine it to be?"

Charcoal eyes fell downwards, watching his daughter's sleeping face burrowed into Sakura's arms. "Simpler," he merely said. Then he looked up, "You?"

Sakura licked her dry lips, once again studying her surrounding. "This, you and me in front of a fireplace. But we'd be married and our wedding pictures would be on those shelves," she used her free hand to point at the dark cherry wood. She gave a slight smirk, "I'd have a strapless gown – ball gown, of course – and maybe a kimono too, because your family wanted it to be a traditional wedding, whereas mine wanted a modern." She stopped to give a sigh. "Ino wouldn't have to share her husband, Naruto – well, I never thought I'd become best friends with Naruto, but if I had, I probably would've wished him to be like today, to be cheerful and always smiling." She turned her face to meet Sasuke's. "Are you happy now?"

He didn't respond and Sakura didn't speak up again after that. The two sat on the sofa together, hearing the crackling sounds of the fireplace and making sure there was enough space in between them, so that it wouldn't be any more awkward as it was currently.

"I'm going to go to bed," Sakura suddenly got up from her seat. "You should too, you seem tired."

"Aa," Sasuke muttered, but didn't budge. His body movements were stiff and his mind was preoccupied. It took him at least a full hour before he decided to put the fire out and go to sleep.

Upon passing the baby's room, he saw between the space Sakura sitting on the rocking chair. The Uchiha gently pushed the door open.

"I thought you were going to sleep," he said quietly. He didn't want to startle the baby.

Sakura turned from the window view to him, clearly with tears in her eyes. "I'm going to see her. She's sick and I'm going to take some time off to see the Haruno's, Sasuke. Even if I don't want to, I still have to."

"Aa, I know." He turned around to go back into his room, but stopped when she called him again.

"Wait. I..I just want to say that I'm happy, Sasuke. I'm not sure if you are, but I _am_ happy. Nothing in my life has happened the way I wanted to, but it actually feels _real_. If I compare my life now to the life that I wanted when I was a child, I would choose this one.

"For the eight and a half months I was carrying Sumi, all I wondered was if you were coming back and if you did, would you help me take care of the baby? But when Shizune ran into that delivery room and told me that you were back, I felt as if my world was suddenly glued together. I didn't worry about anything after that.

"I felt like infinity." She stared directly at Sasuke's face, confident in her words. "And then when Sumi was born, with you there... my life felt so beautifully blissful."

Sasuke's unemotional face remained the same throughout the entire time. When he felt like there was a long enough silence, he turned around again to leave the room. "I'm happy too Sakura. Don't think for a second that I'm not."

* * *

Please review. :)


	26. REWRITTEN

**A/N: PLEASE READ, CAUSE IF YOU REVIEW SAYNG "UPDATE" I'LL OBVIOUSLY KNOW YOU DIDN'T READ THIS MESSAGE AND I'LL BE PRETTY UPSET :)**

So as you can tell, I don't update. Like, at all. Why? Well, the main reason would be writer's block, but the other reason is that this fic, _Issues_, is something that I sort of thought of and wrote it on the spur of the moment. This continued for the rest of the chapters really, as I began writing more. Each chapter is really something that I thought of, couldn't fit into another story or be made into a new story, so I stuffed it into here.

**Plus**, since this was one of my first few fics, I had assumed I could take on more than one couple. Well, I kind of failed at that because I didn't really care for any of the other couples.

And also, the first dozen or so chapters, I realize that Sakura's and Sasuke's relationship was basically stupid. It wasn't, I guess, fluid? I don't know what other word to describe it. _Constant_. Yeah, that's the word. Because I had them blushing like heck, and tried to add in all this fluff, blah blah blah, yeah. I just got really bored of that.

**SO**, I'm considering a rewrite. Well, not considering cause I already have the first chapter written, so I'm **deciding** to **rewrite** it.

It's called: **Close Your Eyes**, which will be posted a few minutes after I post this. Technically, it'll still be the same storyline: Drinking. Sex. Baby. Troubling parents. Love. Also, some of the chapters will still sorta be the same, but I'm going to be tweaking it a bit, adding other things, removing some things.

**What I'm taking out**: Definitely the Shikamaru, Ino, and Temari thing. Like, I don't even know what I was thinking when I did that. I think I was like, in the midst of watching too many historical dramas. Oh, and the Naruto death part. Yeah. Definitely didn't like that. Again, this was during my "I can so totally take on the other pairings without being bored of them." Well, I got bored. I like Sakura and Sasuke. _Just_ them. I'll probably subtly mention the others, but won't make them the main focus of chapters like I did with this one.

**However**, if there is something that you remember reading (which I doubt, since I never update this, you're probably going to have to reread this anyway to remember what it's about) something that you liked, like, a scene or a problem/situation, **PM me** to tell me that you would like to see it in the rewritten version. **I'll consider it.**

Um. That's really it.

**Thank you guys **_**so**_** much for your support with this fic though. I really appreciate it.**

P.S. I'll try to update the new one as much as possible.


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